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Social Workers Roles In Child Maltreatment
The role of social workers in child abuse
Social Workers Roles In Child Maltreatment
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In my experience working in a mandated Aboriginal child protection agency, there were many instances of child neglect that were associated with poverty. As reported by Swift (2011), Aboriginal children disproportionately make up the child welfare system in proportion to their percentage of population. Accordingly, most of the cases that I saw were child neglect cases and directly related to poverty. There are many systemic factors that contributed to oppression and poverty in the community I worked, including the lasting impacts of residential school. Moreover, housing on reserve was limited and overcrowded and to move off reserve was expensive, in addition to the impact of being further away from one’s community and support system. Child …show more content…
neglect could be rendered from a lack of food, inadequate or overcrowded housing, or children being left alone. For many of the families I worked with, all three of these aspects were caused by poverty and a lack of access to social services to support them while raising children, leaving parents in desperate situations when trying to make ends meet. Upon consideration in the case of Raisa and Valentina, legislation and policy would determine the course of action a social worker would take.
First of all, it is necessary to be familiarized with the code of ethics and values to guide one’s practice and give guidance for decision-making. While the textbook does not mention laws specific to BC, it gives a good overview on the baseline of what social workers follow across the country. From what I have found, the relevant legislation is the Child, Family, and Community Service Act. First of all, the first relevant legislation is the duty to report, which was relevant to Raisa’s childcare worker and the neighbour. After, child protection workers are required to respond to child abuse immediately with a family based investigation to ensure the safety of the child and the parent’s ability to protect the child from harm. Because child protection workers work in the best interest of the chid, the law says that action must be taken to protect them from danger with a standardized risk assessment. In the case of Raisa, her protection must come first, preferably by maintaining the family home by reducing risk by removing Barry from the home or worse, by apprehending Raisa if her safety could not be …show more content…
ensured. 8.1 Anti-Oppressive Practice Karen’s method of social work in Sherry’s situation seemed to consider problem solving rather than structural approaches.
In Sherry’s situation, a problem solving approach would look to address Sherry’s issues but would be oppressive because it does not do anything to address the structural causes for her issues. For example, her main issue, financial troubles, could be addressed but the social worker acting as a liaison between her and the social services she needs to access. Secondly, a problem solving approach would help Sherry apply for other forms of housing and hope for the best within the current system but fails to address the larger issue of inaccessible housing. Moreover, the creation of a family domestic violence safety plan does little to prevent violence against women; it just provides individual support for Sherry and her children. Furthermore, there is mention of providing additional family support services to the family, which could be beneficial, but does not lead the family towards
independence. Meanwhile, a structural approach to Sherry’s situation would examine Sherry’s issues from a larger scale instead of focussing on how she as an individual could learn to navigate an oppressive system. To start, Karen could educate Sherry about how social assistance, EI, and other social programs fail to help people strive toward independence and are counteractive by creating obstacles that hinder clients. By relating this to Sherry’s situation, she could help Sherry realize that her childhood sacrifices (taking care of her mom, putting up with abuse) are gone unnoticed by the government and she is burdened because of her past inability to gain education. Additionally, Karen could potentially get Sherry involved in activism to better her own situation, leading to empowerment and decreasing her isolation. This could come in various forms, like lobbying in a group for affordable housing, better social assistance, or even a support group for domestic violence. Further, Sherry could potentially set up an alternative social service like setting up a collective of neighbours to help out with childcare. Structural social work brings together problem solving and activism to challenge oppressive system, thereby positively affecting current and future clients.
Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. The Justice System and Aboriginal People: Child Welfare. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html.
Children’s Social Care work with parents and other agencies to assess the stages of child protection procedures, record information and make decisions on taking further action. The police work closely with this agency to act on decisions made such as removing a child or the person responsible for the abuse while gathering evidence and carrying out investigations regarding the matter. Health professionals have a duty to report suspected non-accidental injuries to Children’s Social Care and examine children to give evidence of abuse. The Children Act 2004 requires every local area to have a Local Safeguarding Children Board to oversee the work of agencies involved in child protection, place policies and procedures for people who work with children and conduct serious case reviews when children die as a result of abuse. The NSPCC is the only charitable organisation that has the statutory power to take action when children are at risk of abuse. They provide services to support families and children and two helplines for children in danger and adults who are concerned for a child’s safety. They also raise awareness of abuse, share their expertise with other professionals and work to influence the law and social policy protect children more efficiently. There are also acts in place to protect children such as the Children Act 1989, the United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child 1989, the Education Act 2002 and the Children Act 2004. Legal framework from such acts are provided for Every Child Matters which requires early years practitioners to demonstrate that they provide activities that help children protect themselves. This may be through books and group talks known as “Stranger
...children, young people and their families can be both complex and difficult. Social work practice is one of the most challenging as it involves work with a diverse range of both professionals and service users. However, there is more that one single reason for this. As all professionals, agencies and parents continue to work together in various different cases, a variety of skills are required including: communication, preparation, intervention skills, assessment of significant harm, research of current legislation and decision making skills, all of which contribute to the complexities and difficulties of social work. It could be argued that these difficulties are highlighted most in many public cases of child abuse; moreover these cases can be seen to be changing social work practice, affecting the difficulties and complexities of working within this profession.
Child welfare system was originated with the goals that social workers would try and alleviate poverty and its impact; however as the years have passed, the child welfare system turned into a child protection system directed toward investigating abuse and neglect, and removing children from families and placing them in foster care, and is no longer prepared to assist in resolving the problems of child poverty (Lindsey, 2004). Child welfare system has been developed around the residual approach which demands that aid should be given only after the family is in crisis or other support groups have failed to meet a child’s minimal needs. However, over the years, there have been different focuses for the child welfare system, whether it involved
The over-representation of Aboriginal children in the Canadian Child Welfare system is a growing and multifaceted issue rooted in a pervasive history of racism and colonization in Canada. Residential schools were established with the intent to force assimilation of Aboriginal people in Canada into European-Canadian society (Reimer, 2010, p. 22). Many Aboriginal children’s lives have been changed adversely by the development of residential schools, even for those who did not attend them. It is estimated that Aboriginal children “are 6-8 times more likely to be placed in foster care than non-Aboriginal children (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, 2010, p. 2).” Reports have also indicated that First Nations registered Indian children make up the largest proportion of Aboriginal children entering child welfare care across Canada (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, p. 2). Consequently, this has negatively impacted Aboriginal communities experience of and relationship with child welfare services across the country. It is visible that the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system in Canada lies in the impact of the Canadian policy for Indian residential schools, which will be described throughout this paper.
Poverty among Aboriginals entails poor living conditions on reserves, health and well-being struggles, and financially unstable families; relatively speaking to the majority of Aboriginals who are living in impoverished communities, these hardships usually commence in some way, shape, or form. The Canadian Feed the Children Charity (2017) notes that “Indigenous children in Canada are over two and a half times more likely to live in poverty than non-Indigenous children.” This number is quite high and is extremely unfortunate for children to have a potentially traumatic and unpleasant upbringing resulting in challenges throughout adolescent and adulthood years. Furthermore, statistics from a study conducted years before, in 2013 with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives state the rate at which Aboriginals in Canada are living in poverty. It was determined that 50 percent of status First Nations children in the Canadian context live in poverty based on the Low Income Measure (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2013). With Manitoba being the highest percentage from this resource, sitting at 62 percent living in poverty, it is evident that Aboriginals in Canada are struggling
The stolen generations of Aboriginal children were taken away from their families by the government, churches and welfare bodies so they could be brought up in institutions or fostered out into white families with the hope that these children would be integrated into white society. Beginning in the 1830’s and ending in the early 1970’s, many children were taken from their families in an attempt to eradicate the Aboriginal race and culture. The Australian government’s policy and practice of removing the Aboriginal children from their families was violently enforced during that time period, unfortunately this official government policy was in effect until 1969. During my research it appears that the practice of mistreating Aboriginal
This webpage, the Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal, aims to provide access to research on the Canadian child welfare system. It looks upon the different forms of abuse including sexual, emotional, and physical abuse which affects a child’s wellbeing. As well, further links are provided to help readers understand the exposure of domestic violence and neglect within the household. According to this webpage, child abuse and neglect includes acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver which create a potential, threat or result of harm to a child. As well, supplementary links to frequent definitions used when discussing child
The past and present issues affecting Aboriginal poverty, has long been a concern to social work services. Uncovering how these issues cause poverty is significant, because it tell us why Indigenous people are affected the way they are. This essay discusses the underlying issues that result in Aboriginal poverty, focusing in particular on first, describing material and non- material poverty, second the loss of land, third pollution on Aboriginal environment, fourth exclusion from social provisions and fourth, how practitioners can address these issues. Overall, it is argued through the literature that poverty is a large issue affecting many Indigenous Australians lives in Australia.
Did you know Aboriginal children make up only 4% of the national population? (Bird &Macadam, 83). This is not a very large number but 80-95% of that number 4% of children was sexually abused. This number is so high because these children were not treated equally like other nationalities. They were placed in residential schools, where priests, nuns and other people could get away with inappropriate actions, simply because these were Aboriginal children. Residential schools were designed to present children with a new way of living so they could make their own decision on how they would like to live after examining other options but rather than benefiting these children, it scarred them for many, many generations. These schools were nowhere
Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children. There can be no single factor identified as the cause of child abuse. However it appears to be influenced by the parents' histories, psychological resources, and economic status.
In Dent County alone, during the year of 2012, four children were physically abused, six were the objects of neglect, one was emotionally abused, and eleven more children were the victims of sexual abuse according to records kept by the Missouri Department of Social Services (“Child’s Division” 38). In that same year, 92,593 children were reported as being abused in the entire state of Missouri (“Child’s Division” 1). Fortunately, only 6,322 children were found to have been abused out of all of the children reported. However, an additional 7,092 were classified as ‘Unsubstantiated-Preventive Services Indicated.’ This means that not enough evidence existed to move further with prosecution, but still enough to indicate that abuse was imminent. Another 44,070 of the reports warranted an assessment of the child’s family in order to ensure the safety of the child (“Child’s Division” 5).
Our children are our future and their health and welfare should be one of our top priorities. Research has confirmed what anyone with common sense already knows: Children, who are fed, do better than those who are hungry. Money spent for child care and education services pay off in the long run and are less likely to be spent on special education and the criminal justice system. There is evidence that hitting children, corporal punishment, which is now illegal in many countries, can contribute to behavioral problems, encourages children to act violently, and can even lower intelligence. We also know that people with insurance stay healthier than those without, and that healthy children do better than sick children (Leon Hoffman, 2011).
Currently many aboriginal peoples live in the reserves with harsh conditions where the funding of these communities are partly compared to other Canadian communities. In some cases, on-reserve conditions are compared those in developing countries. Most remote First Nations communities face countless challenges in accessing, or securing financial, and human resources, often resulting in absolute or relative poverty. Decreased federal investment in Aboriginal housing is also troubling, resulting in poor quality housing, poor ventilation and mold, as well as overcrowded housing conditions quality. Similarly, failure to provide adequate funding for education programs has significantly caused the Aboriginal people to Experience Racism and Its Impacts Moreover, the current federal funding formula for on-reserve water and wastewater systems is often inadequate, leaving many First Nations communities financially incapable of operating and maintaining adequate systems schools being underfunded. The quality of education not as good as it would be in the city. As well as infrastructures of schools and building being underfunded in
Today child neglect is the largest part of child abuse in the United States, and almost two-thirds of all reported cases in child protective services is neglect (Dubowitz). Before the 1970’s child abuse mostly referred to physical abuse; however, now it encompasses physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as well as neglect (Compton’s). Physical abuse is when a child is hurt by getting hit, punched, kicked, or any other form of beating by an adult (Compton’s). This abuse will only harm the child physically and though it is horrific and can lead to long term effects it will normally only lead to violence. Emotional abuse is when an adult is hateful to the child by calling him names, and another form of emotional abuse is when an adult is punishing a child in a way that will cause him mental trauma (Compton’s). Emotional abuse is terrible for the child’s self-esteem however they can go and learn that they are important to the world by their contributions. Sexual abuse is when a child is touched inappropriately or molested (Compton’s). This is detrimental to a child but in most cases the child will block this out for when they grow older it is like it never happened which will cause no harm to their mental state. Neglect is when an adult will not seek medical help for their child and will not provide them with food, shelter, clothing, or emotional support (Sullivan). This is where the real trauma takes place on a child. The child will not suffer from being hit but they suffer from starving until someone is kind enough to feed them or they die from malnutrition. The child will not suffer from a parent calling them names but they might never know if their parent knows their name or cares to even speak to th...