Tragedy In Child Protective Services (CPS)

According to childrensrights.org, Children will be “further abused in systems that are supposed to protect them” (Newsroom/fact sheet). Some children end up back into that abusive or unsafe environment

CPS workers will provide assistance to abused and neglected children. There are multitudes of cases of abuse, neglect, and sexual assault reported to Child Protetive Services each year. In 2019 alone, there were 3.5 million cases referred and handled by CPS workers (Miller). This shows just how imperative it is to have these workers around. If a case is reported to CPS, it falls to the worker to decide if the case is something that needs to be looked into.

At the beginning of social welfare programs in the nineteenth century, there was a group of local societies known as Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children who gradually separated in two competing perspectives rescue and preventative. These perspectives started creating the basis for future welfare programs. As concern about child abuse and neglect grew and as a Child Abuse and treatment act of 1974 was introduced and put into place; a system for collecting data on child abuse was created. With this new system, a “preservationist” reaction soon emerged, as did an impression that the system was out of control” (Noonan, K. G., Et Al., 2009).

CAPTA was originally established to improve the lives of children in the child welfare system. While it has taken strides to assist children who have been abused, neglected, and put through the foster care system, it still has its flaws. More specifically, due to some of the laws created by CAPTA it has shown negative effects among a couple of different populations. One of the initiated laws made by CAPTA was establishing mandated reporters among professionals who work with children.

“It is an affirmative duty to report all actual or suspected cases of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect.” (Florida Dept. of Education, 2015, Section 1006.061) Reference: Florida Dept. of Education. (2015). “Child Abuse Look for the Signs.” Florida Depaartment of Education. Retrieved from: http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7725/urlt/0072440-mandatoryabusereport08.pdf Florida Dept. of Education. (2015).

The origins of child protection can be the late 1800s, when the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was established in the city of New York. This was at the onset of an incidence in which the treatment of a young child captured the attention of the public in 1875, resulted in the formation of this organization to fight for the rights of the children in the state of New York (Horwath, 2007). Subsequently, other states in the U.S. followed suit, with the notable creation of the very first juvenile court in 1899 to address issues relating to delinquency, neglect and dependence in the state of Chicago (CWLA, 2012). Throughout the subsequent decades, other federal and state regulations and laws were drafted to encompass the protection

The Effects of a Broken System Foster care is a system in which a child under the age of eighteen, is placed in a temporary home away from one’s parents due to physical or mental neglect. Children from as young as a few days old to teenage years are placed in foster care every day. The amount of children in the system affect how needs are met and how high these youths are placed on a need of special care for problems that were developed before and while in the system. Most of which occur because they are abused and that is why they were taken away. Foster care is an escape for those being mistreated.

The child welfare system is seen by many Americans as a good way for abused or endangered children to be removed from a threatful environment and placed into a safe one. However, as scholars look into the flaws of the child welfare system (in a form of black resistance), statistics uncover the deeply rooted racism behind child protective services, giving it a new title as “Family regulation system” (Strengthened Bonds, 431). The family regulation system is a way for government agencies to surveil and criminalize poor Black communities, allowing the state to separate Black families, perpetuating the social and economic disadvantages they have experienced generationally within America. The government's choice of funding with regards to children’s

These categories are when children are identified as either suffering, or likely to suffer or children that have been put through significant harm because of abuse or neglect. When children fit into these categories measures and structures are put in place to prevent and respond to abuse and neglect which is therefore known as child protection.

It changed the role of the parent to one of responsibility and not a right over the child or young person. This act outlines the duties of people who work with or around children and how they should work with other services or agencies to keep children safe and protected. The welfare of the child or young person must always

Policies are put in place for people to follow not only in the government setting but also in much smaller settings. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016) defines policy as a clearly stated or implicit procedure, plan, rule, or stance concerning some issue that serves to guide decision making and behavior (p. 87). In the social work field policies are put into place so that there is guarantee that all clients are treated with the same respect and are offered the resources that are available to them in their community. In this paper I will discuss policies that are in place for children that are being abused and what is in place to help them. Not only are we concerned with if these policies are working but also how are they being paid

According to a Child Protective Investigation, there are approximately half a million children in the U.S. foster care system, otherwise known as congregate care (group homes and institutions). Children are placed in congregate care when they are found to be in an unsafe environment. Usually children of abuse or maltreatment are placed first (Font, 2015). Out-of-home-care causes increased problems of attachment, behavioral, and psychological disorders in the developing child. Child safety is the primary goal of out-of-home-care; however, maltreatment investigations are still reported in those institutions.

According to The Child Welfare Outcomes Reports made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2011 there were approximately 742,000 cases of confirmed child maltreatment. The national child victim rate was 9.9 child victims per 1,000 children in the population. This rate decreased from 10.3 child victims per 1,000 children in the population in 2008 to the most resent 9.9 rate in 2011. The state rate varies ranging from 1.2 child victims per 1,000 children to 24.0 child victims per 1,000 children. Even though the rate has decreased some of these instances are not reported until something major occurs like in Brianna’s

Each year in America alone, an estimate of two million children, ranging from infants to teenagers go through minor or major kinds of abuse which include neglect, physical, emotional, and sexual maltreatment. According to the National American Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, neglect represented 54% of confirmed cases of child abuse, physical abuse represented 22%, sexual abuse represented 8%, emotional maltreatment represented 4%, and other forms of maltreatment represented12%. It also indicates that child abuse is far more common in single-parent families than in families where both parents are

Child Welfare Services attempts to contribute to a lovelier quality of life for children. According to acf.hhs.gov, “While the national child victim rate decreased from 9.3 child victims per 1,000 children in the population in 2009 to 9.2 in 2011, there was no change between 2011 and 2012” (“Child Welfare Outcomes”, n.d.). So even though the victim rate didn’t steadily decrease, it didn’t increase either. Child Welfare Services uses a residual perspective. With the residual perspective, the social worker, would have to react to the situation, after the fact, instead of already having an outline in place.