Wynona House Observation

Many children prefer to live with their parents, so they always think the foster care system is the bad guy. Living with strangers is bad enough for them but to add on some foster homes are abusive. Foster Care goes all the way back to the Old Testament, which the churches require widows to care for orphaned children (“Care” 1). It would be a miracle that someone would treat the children like their own. Many foster homes are abusive just like the one Ashley had. Year after year, the increase of foster families is due to drugs, abuse, economy, financial, and psychological problems (“Care” 1). In this society, there are many problems that lead children to have the feeling of worthlessness. It is really sad how many children are in families of irresponsible parents. Child abuse occurs when a parent or caretaker physically, emotionally, or sexually mistreats or neglects a child resulting in the physical, emotional, sexual harm, exploitation, or imminent risk (“Care” 1). It is disgusting how people would do this stuff to kids. These people have no heart and should be punished. Not everyone gets punished, but when the time comes, they will get what they deserve. Ashley’s book shows how her difficulties in foster homes were troubling. Many professional readers enjoy reading about her hard times.

In the “High Stakes and Frightening Lapses” case study, the report indicates various problems that face individuals with careers in the social services cluster. There was evidence of high case loads with low pay, lack of attention to families that needed it the most (the Ventura family), absence of leadership from administration, broken promises, bureaucratic issues, etc., which can all lead to unsuccessful relationships between clients and social workers as well as distrust within the helping process. The actions pursued by both DSS and La Alianza Hispana (LAH) resulted in the horrifying situation of several children that could have ultimately been prevented by the professionals.

In many cases according to Doyle (2006), children and young children are more dominant to abuse than the older children, and most of the children abuser could be relatives, close friends or parents. Children who have been abused are likely to be affected in their adulthood, some having depression, antisocial behaviours, and unable to sustain relationship according to (NICE, 2013). However, it is very important for all the professionals working with children to be able to recognise the signs of abuse, what is abuse and how the effects of abuse can affect children in their lives. In Amie’s case she is going through some of the abuse, and she is 4 years old and the youngest of four children and she lives with her mother and father (Mr and Mrs Newton).

Social workers are often exposed to dangerous and unpredictable situations. I consider the process of removing children from their homes as being one of the most dangerous settings for a social worker. These settings are difficult for both the workers and the parents, as well as for the children being removed. The feelings and emotions that parents could feel in these contexts, such as guilt, sadness, anger, could become overwhelming. My fear is that the conflict could easily escalate and turn into a violent situation.

For this experience, I have visited Wynona’s House Child Advocacy Center, often referred to as Wynona’s House. This was the perfect opportunity to go to such an agency because April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. During my visit, I interviewed two women that worked at this agency: Ashley Pires, and briefly, Karen J. Zambrano. Ashley Pires is the Family Advocate and Karen Zambrano is Wynona House’s Forensic Interview Specialist.

Other health problems arise when the trauma from past experiences such as abuse or violence in the home cause long term effects in the children. The needs of children in foster care are multifaceted and the problems are exacerbated when the resources in the community are scarce and when the service system is fragmented (Halfon, Berkowitz, & Klee, 1993). Due to the complexity of their problems and the degree of vulnerability, a well-trained and

Child Protective Services (CPS) is a complex system of assessments, investigations, and conclusions. CPS is the central agency in each communities child abuse and neglect service system. It is responsible for ensuring that preventative, investigative, and treatment services are available to children and families endangered by child abuse and neglect. As a result, CPS workers must perform a variety of functions when responding to situations of child maltreatment and play a variety of roles throughout their involvement with child protective clients. Reporting a suspective case of child maltreatment to the local CPS agency (or a family member’s own request for help with the problem) initiates

Over 28% of children in state care are abused while in the child care system. Once placed in the foster care system, a child is not always guaranteed to be safe from abuse. Ashley Rhodes-Courter was abused in one of the foster homes she was put in. She was starved and beaten almost on a daily basis when living in the home. Courter in a span of nine years went through fourteen different foster homes and attended nine different schools. Although Ashley Rhodes-Courter was not in the most nurturing environment as a child, she later used her experiences to become successful.

A caseworker’s main job is to advocate for our client population which is children and youth. OCY workers go into the home and investigate to see the extent of the maltreatment. We are to protect children and youth from abuse in all forms. Social Justice is used when parents are being neglectful, and not meeting the basic needs for their child. Caseworkers complete home assessments, and advocate for the child’s needs so the child can thrive. Children and youth are either too young, or afraid to speak up against the maltreatment inflicted upon them. OCY steps in and speaks up for the children and youth. Caseworkers make safety and risk assessments to determine if the child could be maltreated and advocates for change on the youth’s

Child maltreatment is a widespread issue that affects thousands of children every year. There are four common types of child maltreatment; sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. All of these types of abuse are very serious and can have many consequences for the children and families. The most common consequence of severe child maltreatment is the removal of that child from their home (Benbenishty, Segev, Surkis, and Elias, 2002). Most social workers trying to determine the likelihood of removal evaluate the type and severity of abuse, as well as the child’s relationship with their parents (Benbenishty et al., 2002). When children are removed from their homes there are many options of alternative housing. The

Below are the items we discussed during the follow-up conversation with Carol. We can discuss the items in more detail.

'Social workers have a professional and ethical responsibility to (...) interact and intervene with clients and their environments' (Teater, 2010, p.4). According to this premise, the ecological approach in social work interventions offers an effective method of relating children, young people and their families to their environment. It is an approach that allows social workers to intervene in cases where a child is abused or neglected, while providing a good theoretical framework for social workers' direct work. This essay is going to assess the ecological model within a social work practice directed at children. It will stress the importance of this model, and explain its application in today's child protection work.

So it is important for social workers to avoid assumption and a discriminatory practice. There are many theories can provide an exploration to child abuse like the psychodynamic or socio-biological or a families disfunctioning theories, but sometimes their maybe multiple reasons and theories to child abuse. A social worker may identify the risk factors causing abuse and keep in mind that some families are more vulnerable than others. Depending on agencies that are dealing with the family, different personal will attend a child protection conference (social workers, police, parents/carers, nurses, teachers, housing welfare, etc). It is down to the local authority to do their investigation into suspected child abuse, under confidentiality, and cooperate with different agencies to prevent this issue. Guide and procedures should be adapted in individual cases, they are produced by the area child protection committee (ACPC) through a handbook that is distributed to a social worker and professionals who engage in child protection; the ACPC role is to asses co-working issues, identify agencies training needs, that establish a strong links between agencies, promote a good practice and review the information regarding the operation of child protection register and publish an annual report.

Social work within the school system is an important and necessary asset to have. It helps many students with a severity of problems that children and adolescents face, whether it be at home or at the school itself. The role of the social worker is to establish a working relationship between the school and the family. In addition, they also help make sure that the child’s needs are met, whether it be their academic achievement, social, emotional and behavioural competence. By observing the child in its environment, they establish what needs that child might have and they figure out how they can utilize that perspective on the child to ensure that they perform to the best of their abilities academically or socially. We are looking at the different polices and job duties that a social worker faces while working in a school, whether it is a child with mental health related issues or a child with learning disabilities.

Child abuse is horrible and it affects everyone in one way or another. Before 1963, there were no laws to protect the kids from abuse but thanks to social workers and other judicial people, there were laws passed (Pfohl). This paper is going to explain why it is so important for social workers to protect kids by talking about this history of abuse and why social workers need to be around. It will also discuss what social workers do today to prevent kids from being hurt. Social workers are useful in just about every aspect of life but in my opinion this is one of the more important jobs of a social worker because your protecting those of the future. Abuse isn’t just