Until the end of the 19th century, the ideological lens that structured society was punitive. Then, there became a shift towards a more social reform with a focus on rehabilitation and there was an increase of foster home and adoptions. In the early 1900s, the ideology of professional helping was new nonetheless, has shaped the multitude of helping professions that we have today. The helping and rehabilitating ideology was new, but human services workers such as social worker, parole offices and counsellor were beginning to emerge (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 30). The conservative ideology that emerged consisted of individual interest and responsibly, personal freedom, acceptance of unequal power and resources in society. Controversially, …show more content…
this lens approached situations in a light that they were personal problems and individuals were responsible for their own issues. From there, a liberal lens was developed to include a humanistic view and shed light to having a social safety net in case of crisis. As Heinonen and Spearman (2010) state in the text, a liberal lens strives for social equality but does not seek to change the system. Next, the social democratic lens arises that moves away from individualism and is shifted to be seen as that the state creates a key role in creating social justice and equality primarily reducing the difference within wealth and poverty (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 31). A social democratic saw the development of universal programs, further promoted equality and social justice. Presently, we see elements of all lenses within social policy for example, the universal child care tax benefit and the many policies that have been implemented to protect children. Thus, as the ideological lenses have shifted, so has the social policy that goes along with it. Thus, in the early forms of child protection, children were considered adults at the age of seven (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 75). This was also a time where factors such as poverty, war and death of parents were common issues and the community such as churches or hospitals would come together to provide care to orphans. This exemplifies that there was a large gap in services that greatly disadvantaged children. Moreover, this is where the Settlement House Movement and Charity Organization Societies emerged from. To further illustrate, in 1874, Ontario Legislation permitted charitable institutions to intervene to prevent the maltreatment of apprenticed children (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 75). During the time of the Industrial Revolution, there was a shift from farming to production and an increase in urban living.
These changes in living led to an increase in stressors and began to emerge, this was evident within the further development of social classes. These changes in society led to the development of the Act for the Protection and Reformation of Neglected Children, or the Children’s Protection Act in 1888. Fittingly, there was an increase in awareness surrounding children’s need. Therefore, the province now how authority to remove children from home, if necessary. Social welfare driven organizations and legislation continued to be developed. Thus, in, 1891, the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto was established. Then, in 1893, the Act for the Prevention of Cruelty to and Better Protection of Children passed in Ontario. At this point, Children Aid Society became provincially mandated and there was more control. Finally, in 1912, 60 Children’s Aid Societies had been established across Ontario. Thus, this illustrates that the increase in awareness surrounding issues with children were developing and subsequently, policies were being constructed to allow for improved support …show more content…
opportunities. With that being said, social welfare policy, specifically, child welfare, had changed immensely from 1874 to 1912.
After 1912, services began to strengthen what they offered by developing official roles, creating standards of practice and formal training. In 1914, the first school of social work opened at the University of Toronto. In the 1950’s there was an increase in provincial and federal funding that would help social services. Also, at this time, orphanages were beginning to fade and foster homes were becoming increasingly widespread. Thus, the shift came from the idea that when protecting children, a home-life environment was better than an institution (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 76). Moreover, between 1960 and 1970, there was the development of The Canadian Assistance Plan which provided funding to a wide range of social assistance further protecting children and the language surrounding child protection emerged to include child abuse and rescue. Additionally, there was an increase in the number of children accessing child welfare agencies and being placed in subsite care and there was the development of child abuse registers. Furthermore, this era marked the discovery of child sexual abuse and why children were not disclosing it (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 76-77). There was a rapid change going on within child welfare agencies and society was receptive to the changes that were occurring. Fortunately, more children were being protected and being
taken care of while change was still positively emerging. Within the last decade or so, there has been a multitude of policy and legislation that have been implemented to further protect children. To illustrate: provincial governments mandate agencies to delivery child protection services, social works are employed to carry out child protection duties, all institutional services have been replaced by foster homes, there is a principle that ensures acting in the best interest of the child is a priority, increased family involvement when possible, exposed to violence is deemed maltreatment, agreements with Aboriginal organizations to provide services (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 78-79). These shifts in social policy can be attributed to the continuous changes and learning opportunities that have been created within social policy since 1874. Thus, by analyzing child welfare policies through a different lens, we are able to identify where change has come from. Fortunately, social work policy is consistent with a social democratic lens and when viewing a social issue through this lens it incorporates equality and social justice. To conclude, the many changes that come about since 1874 have been hard fought battles for organizations and individuals. Society is ever changing and this is reflected in the change that occurs within social policies and legislation. Thus, as society becomes more educated about topics such as child welfare, there is a rise in interest and the desire to create change. All in all, the different policies and how society has viewed child welfare past and present has been built on each existing policy. Moreover, as social workers, it is important to be flexible and adapt to this change but to also be open to viewing policies and legislation through a different lens.
Popple, P. R, & L. Leighninger. (2011). Social Work, Social Welfare, and American Society. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
For the purpose of this paper the social worker interviewed is Ronnita Waters, MSW, RCSWi; she is currently an operations manager at the Center for Family and Child Enrichment (CFCE). The issue or area where her advocacy skills are practiced is within child welfare. Mrs. Waters mentions to the interviewee “I always wanted to work with children, then eventually for children.” when asked what developed her interest in this area of social work. Furthermore, before she became an operations manager, the social worker was an adoptions supervisor, overseeing adoption case managers and ensuring the proper implementation of policies such as the sibling placement policy and adoption policy. In addition, before achieving the role of supervisor, she was
Social work pursues to meet the demands and addresses the changing profession of fighting for human rights, improving social policies, and practice. I agree with the Abramovitz article that we have to know and understand the history of the social work profession. If people go without learning and comprehending the past, people cannot make accommodations for the future. Knowledge of the past will keep history alive, it will guide workers and their efforts to reform. The past also helps society in understanding programs that did not work. Society needs to understand the values that historical knowledge can bring positive changes in the future. Advocates for early social workers and their issues and concerns are still relevant in today's
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
According to the Encyclopedia of Education, the program was first started in 1690. It became a way to deal with criminal court cases involving child abuse. Two years later the states and municipalities identified care for abused and neglected children as the responsibility of local government and private institutions. It was not until 1825, that the states enacted laws that gave social workers the right to remove children that had been neglected from their parents and their homes. The program has had several names since then. In 1835, it was the National Federation of Child Rescue, later in 1853; they founded the Children’s Aid Society which was a response to the problem of orphaned and abandoned children. In 1874, the “case of Mary Ellen” became the first child abuse case to be criminally prosecuted. In 1930, the Social Security addressed issues of abuse and neglect, which provided funding for intervention for “neglected and dependent children in danger of becoming delinquent.” Effective February 1, 2004, the name of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services was changed to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (Guthrie, Heyneman & Braxton, 2002). The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, is a state agency that is run by the state government.
Popple , P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2011). Social work, social welfare, and american society. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
...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.
The power of the conservative movement was attributed to the mix of the frustration with failed economic and foreign policies and it was backed by a desire for a change in American culture that focused on the family. The Carter Administration was viewed as inept to lead because everything was going wrong in the American economy, the U.S. international reputation was being tarnished, and a lay minded person might have stated that Carter’s Administration was “circling the drain” at the time of his reelection. The conservative ascendancy in the late 1970s and early 1980s occurred because the people wanted a change and, as the Reagan campaign put it, they wanted to “make America great again.”
A Child Protective Service worker is a career that can be mentally and physically exhausting with emotional upheaval and wonderfully rewarding all at the same time. This paper discusses several “best practices’, their descriptions, and how they are put in use to assist the children who need help and the parents who unwillingly become a part of the Child Welfare system; even though they count on the system to help them better themselves and the lives of their children. Child Protective Service workers require extensive training, vast knowledge, multiple values, and strong ethics to effectively assist this
The job of a child welfare worker appears to be a demanding profession that promotes the child’s safety, but also strengthens the family organization around them in order to successfully raise the children. This child welfare workers work in the system known as the Child Protective Services whose initiative is to protect the overall welfare of the child. The short novel From the Eye of the Storm: the Experiences of a Child Welfare Worker by Cynthia Crosson-Tower demonstrates the skills necessary to deal with the practice of social work along with both its challenges and its happy moments. The novel consists of some of the cases involving Tower’s actual career in social work. In reading the book, I was able to experience some of the actual cases in which children dealt with physical and mental abuse from their families that caused them to end up within the system. Also, some of these children had issues in adapting to foster and adoptive families based on the issues they faced earlier in life. As we have learned earlier in the course, the violence that a child experiences early in life has an overall affect on the person they become as they grow into adulthood. When children deal with adverse childhood experiences, they are at a higher risk for abusing drugs and/or alcohol, increased likelihood of abusing their own child or spouse, higher rates of violent and nonviolent criminal behavior, along with several other issues throughout their lifespan.
Before the Progressive Era, children who were over the age of seven were put in jail with adults. In the early part of the 1800’s reformers started to become concerned with the overcrowded environment in the jails and prisons, and the corruption young kids were experiencing when locked up with adult prisoners. The Progressives in the late nineteenth century started to push for universal reform in the criminal justice system (Myers, 2008). The Progressives looked to move away from the penalizing aspect and more towards a rehabilitative system, with regard to the rectification of delinquent children and adolescents. A specific group of Progressives, called the "child savers," focused the majority of their attention on finding and curing the causes of juvenile delinquent behavior. The child savers group viewed the juvenile offenders as adolescents in need of care and direction, not punishment (Myers, 2008). In In re Gault (1967), Justice Fortas summed up the views of the child savers: “The early reformers were horrified by adult procedures and penalties, and by the fact that children could be given long prison sentences and thrown in jails with toughened criminals. They were overwhelmingly convinced that so...
The aim of this assignment is to analyse the development of British social policy, in relation to the development of children services. The author will explore the social policy responses to child protection from 1842 to 2011. This topic of social policy was chosen by the author because it is his area of social work he would like to practice in the future. In the beginning of the assignment the word will describe what social policy and child protection means in her/his own words linking it to other definitions. The essay author will analyse how child protection has develop looking at past legislation and how children’s deaths have influenced the way children services work today. Using different research the essay author will evaluate the benefits and challenges offered by inter-agency, inter-professional partnership working with children and families. In the conclusion, the authors will a brief description of what he/she have written.
In the Nineteenth Century the natural order of conservatism was challenged by new ideology such as Marxism and Liberalism. Conservatism was the norm and dominated Europe at the time so of course people were going to challenge monarchs because of their disagreement with the way they ruled. So I am here to show why conservatism is better for countries than liberalistic ideas. Also I will give sufficient reasoning why the conservative limits on voting should not change and why the limits are best for a country.
Compared to people in the twenty-first century, with all their modern conveniences and technological advances, the life of any early-American seems difficult. However, the lives of children were among the most arduous. Linda Pollock states in her book Forgotten Children that between 1660 and 1800 families -and society in general- became more affectionate, child-oriented, and permissive of uniqueness and unstructured time (67). Although this may be true, many other sources depict the lives of children as taxing and oppressive at best. Children of the time were either forced to abandon education for their family contributions, or had to balance school with a full day's work ("Education"). Even when they were not in school or doing manual labor, their day-to-day lives were uncomfortable and harsh (Kids). Social status, as is expected, was a key factor in determining how hard a child's life would be (Murray 9). Although many children at the time had it easier than others they were all asked at an early age to take on adult responsibilities. The lives of all children in 1800 were mundane and difficult due to family and societal expectations for labor, schooling, and maturity.
The profession of Social work is a unique and diverse field in that it has the capacity to reach many different individuals in many different aspects of their lives. Growing up with six siblings and being confined to a small three bedroom apartment, while my mother worked multiple jobs to provide for her children, often times I became reliant on others to guide me. In retrospect of my childhood, I have personally been affected by social workers, and each of them treated my family with such professionalism. These individuals who impacted my life, did not realize the blessings they were bestowing upon me. Little did they recognize, they forever enriched my life. I desire to do the same for others. I yearn to not only become a professional at promoting the well-being of others, but also making a long-term difference for others.