Child abuse is something that most people don't understand or don't know how to react to. Statistics show that around 80% of child maltreatment fatalities involve at least one parent as perpetrator. I have chosen to give more information on the effects and the laws that we have to abide by when dealing with these types of things. Who's is held more accountable in the situation of child abuse, child service agents or the caregiver?
There is a controversy on the fact of who should be held more accountable during cases of child abuse. For instance position one the child service agents have an impact on the children and can be held just as accountable for the abuse. Child service worker must investigate if they see any chance of child abuse or
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neglect. Then the evidence will prove and provide for itself, such as if “the local law enforcement and are child services shall make a thorough investigation of the child's well being. Within the next 24 hours after receiving a report of suspected abuse and within five days after receiving a report of suspected neglect or suspected mental injuries, local department or appropriate law enforcement shall; see the child;attempt to have an on-site interview with the child's caretaker; decide on the safety of the child, wherever the child is”(Department of Social Services). This is what is called the “process” of that the child services, partake in for the wellbeing of the child. Next we have reason number two and this is to indicate whether the child is getting abused or neglected and the worker decides if the child is at significant risk of more harm. Furthermore, “the social worker and/or local law enforcement will visit your house and determine if the children in your are being mistreated and how to help your family” (Department of Social Services). Next, the evidence comes into effect. The child service worker can then make the rational decision on if the child is to be taken from the parent or caregiver and take control of the situation and put them in a new home, but the worker can also help set up a way for the parents to seek help so they can be reunited again. Lastly, we have our third reason and this is when the worker will meet with the family regularly and figure out what the problems are and help them cope with them. “Workers and families should cooperate to develop a treatment plan together to solve problems. This may include counseling, homemaker services, day care, and other things you may not know about”(Department of Social Services). This can lead to professional help in the home and can lead to a better life for the children and family. Next, we have positioned two and this is when the parents or caregiver should take the responsibility for the abuse and neglect. Those in close contact with children on a daily basis should be particularly conscientious in reporting child abuse. The evidence states that, “Teachers and other professionals and a legal responsibility to report any type of incident that suggest any type of abuse, also law enforcement officers do not hesitate when there is a possibility of any abused child” (Mundi). Then, to furthermore explain those people who are working with kids on a daily basis should be able to recognize the signs of child abuse and have a legal responsibility to protect them. It's not just a moral obligation to report child abuse, but a legal one as well. “Approximately 29 states have penalties in their child protection laws for a person who willfully and intentionally makes a report on child abuse or neglect and it is false”. This gives us the explanation that knowing of the child abuse or the issue at hand at all and not reporting makes you just as accountable for it all as the person doing the crime. Lastly, it’s the obligation of people who work with children and understand the law and err on the side of caution in order to prevent more children from being hurt. Evidently “The choice between reporting and hesitating on reporting because of a slight sliver of doubt is clear: it is better to act in the interest of the child and be wrong than to find out after the abuse and nothing was done for punishment” (Spitalli). Therefore, it is better to report the child abuse than it is to be too late. If there is any thought of child abuse do not hesitate to call on the behalf of saving a child. Now that we have established the two main arguments of child abuse and seeing who is at fault we can now focus on my own personal opinion on the subject.
Parents should be held more accountable for child abuse and neglect. Children are in the hand of their parents or caregivers, and not in the hand of child service workers. Children who are severely disciplined to the point of where they are emotionally deprived and don’t feel wanted could indicate that the family needs to have outside help. Disciplining a child is the one way a parent is allowed to prove their dominance to their child, it doesn't have to be by force, but with how things are today kids think they can do whatever they want. “While parents do need to be the person in control in the parent-child relationship, there are non-abusive ways of disciplining a child”(WebMD). This could include grounding the child and or taking away the things they value the most. “Workers and families should cooperate to develop a treatment plan together to solve problems. This may include referring you and your family to specialized counseling, homemaker services, day care or to other resources you may not know about” (Department of Social Services). Making a family, and or a caregiver goes to a counselor and get a professional outlook on what is going on in your home can provide the parents with other ways of disciplining and dealing with their children. Sometimes makes you realize how wrong a parent or caregiver is. This would include skills like listening to what your child has to say is a key to making a better relationship with them. By working together, it could help solve some issues and help the child and parent become closer. “As a parent who has had to spend the majority of their life dealing with the fallout of an out of control child, some believe that there is only so much that you can ask of someone who raises a child. To hold them responsible for everything is really not fair and does not stress personal
accountability to the child”(Debate). Parents have a strict rule for themselves to keep a fine line of disciplinary actions in their household, many parents don't want to follow the given guidelines because when they were younger their parents raised them a different way and feel as if they should be able to discipline their children in a similar way. With that being said child service workers are not the reason that children are being mistreated, they are intervening on the children’s behalf, so the children can be in a situation where they succeed and live a healthy, productive life, “Teachers and other professionals have a legal responsibility to report incidents that tend to suggest any kind of abuse, and law enforcement officers do not hesitate to take action when there is a possibility of preventing harm to a child”(Mundi). Those who interact with children on a daily basis should be able to notice when there are signs of child abuse, they have a legal responsibility to help protect children who are endangered. The parents and/or caregivers, if found guilty, should not get upset with child services. Child Services did not mistreat the children; they are trying to protect the children who are more important. If there are any signs of abuse, neglect, or other dangers, the parents and/or caregivers should be held accountable. The child is the one enduring these actions and should be kept in the forefront and safe. All in all, I have come up with multiple solutions and came back to the fact that I feel like the parents are held more accountable. The teachers and caregivers are still at fault for some and have been even worse in some cases, but the parents are the everyday culprit and they should be held more accountable than anyone. My perspective, I have is, is that as a parent when you were a child you did not want to be treated this way. So why would you ever put your child in harms way? Being this type of person can make you lose your child and break your family apart. Treat your loved ones the way you would want to be treated and discipline them without harm, or you could lose them and never see them again.
Finally, Children Protective Services has let down many children and families. Children who are in the homes of loving, nurturing parents are take away from their secure environments, and are placed into degrading situations. The children who are in desperate need of help do not receive it. Many of the real cases of abuse go unnoticed and unfounded. The system need to distinguish the difference between real child abuse and parenting because there is a child out there who does need help but the workers are too busy focusing their time on cases that are not necessary. If CPS would create a new sstructure and set new standards, many more lives could be saved.
When children are hurt physically, emotionally, or sexually it is known to be child abuse. Children are known to be neglected when they are not getting the proper attention needed for children. When children are neglected or abused in any way it is the responsibility of others to report such acts to the authorities as to what they have witnessed first-hand or signs of abuse or neglect seen after the fact, these people who reports such acts are known as third parties. The proper authorities to report child abuse or neglect is called Child Protected Services also known as Child Welfare. After the abuse or neglect is reported the proper authorities will then investigate to see if the abuse or neglect is legit or fraudulent (Sedlak, 2001).
Child abuse is a serious crime, that if violated can come with many consequences, and rules. Reporting child abuse is a mandatory law enacted in 1978 (but amended many times) stating that people must report child abuse immediately1. This law was created to identify children that are victims of child abuse. Relating to the law the Department of Human Services has responsibility to access and investigate suspected child abuse. "Each year Department of Human Services investigators conduct 20,000 investigations involving 30,000 children (in the state of California).2" There are a lot of cases reported each year, involving innocent children, abused by their parents. Although there are thousands of cases reported each year, thousands go unreported. "Child abuse has serious consequences which may remain as indelible pain throughout the victims lifetime3" Child abuse can have permanent negative affects on the child, permanent affects that the child will never forget. The abuse can also bring a better side to the child, making the child wanting to be more independent. Child abuse is very common, and can affect any child of any race, color or religion.
Life in the United States has been difficult for many children. Statistically speaking, there are four children who are killed by abuse each day (Allyn & Bacon, 2011). With numbers increasing over the years change is something that is starting to take place. There are many things that will affect the child welfare system in the future, such as the economic policies, political views, and the current policies set in place (child welfare information). The reason for the child welfare system is to help the children who are getting abused. In the past, there was not a policy set in place; however, this is beginning to change. One of the systems that have been set in place is the Children’s Bureau, an organization that does studies on the mental health of abused children (Thomas, 2012). Although this organization has no authority to develop federal regulations, they are one of the largest agency leaders in child welfare (Thomas, 2012). There are many problems with the economy and government that make it hard to maintain the child welfare system.
The main causes of child abuse from a conflict theory perspective would be an imbalance of power relating to economic issues, legal or political actions that deny equal rights, a cultural issues that enable violence. The conflict perspective views society as groups engaged in a continuous power struggle for the control of scarce resources. From that perspective, child abuse may be a result of social inequality. In family groups, there is usually a pecking order and children are at the bottom of that pecking order and therefore the most likely to be abused. Children in society are powerless. They rank below their parents and are easily exploited by the parents who hold the power within a family group. This inequality in the family group could
CPS workers ought to do an adequate amount of work to keep the child in a safe and protected environment. CPS workers are missing vital signs throughout their investigations, which may possibly prevent fatalities amongst children due to abuse and neglect. This is why it is extremely important to keep track of how many fatalities occur which are based on abuse and neglect, which CPS workers determined there is not a substantial amount of harm that can endanger the child and put him or her in an unsafe environment, and learn from these experiences to attempt to prevent these
According to Tennyson Center for Children, “A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds in the U.S.” (“Child Abuse in America”). One cannot fathom the idea of why anyone would intentionally hurt the innocent children of today’s society. Child abuse happens with children of all ages, gender, and religions. Likewise, the world can be identified as a harsh place, where child abuse occurs around the world, and is even evident in the United States. There are many factors that contribute to this repulsive behavior. Physical, sexual, and psychological cruelty are effects of child abuse.
Child abuse is an issue in every state, every country, worldwide. There is no place that is immune to child abuse. This being stated they need better policies in place regarding the education on child abuse. Many people have many different opinions on how to lessen the amount of child abuse that goes on in this country, however many of them focus on stricter punishment for the abuser’s (Hmurovich, 2009). However, they know that stricter punishment will not lessen the amount of child abuse; it would truly have little to no impact on...
“Women with a childhood abuse history are around 1.4 to 3.7 times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adulthood, and a majority (around 59%) of women with either childhood sexual assaults (CSA) or adult assaults have experienced both” (Cloitre & Rosenberg, 2006). Revictimization for prior victims is an important topic social issues in our society today. Knowing and understanding the cycle of abuse can facilitate the prevention of future victimization for such a vulnerable population. It is hard to grasp that one population of people maybe more vulnerable then others, and it’s hard to come to terms with that fact if you belong to such populations. “This interest is grounded in evidence that persons who experience one victimization (an assault, a burglary, sexual abuse, etc.) are at greater risk for subsequent victimizations and the obvious merit of interrupting this pattern” (Weisel, 2005). Victimization during childhood creates a lasting psychological effect and it’s significant to understand the ramifications of this abuse. For this topic we can define re-victimization as “the experience of victimization among those with prior histories of trauma...” (Duckworth & Follette, 2011; Widom, Czaja, & Dutton, 2008). Nevertheless revictimization is defined in several different ways and this is one difficulty while studying revictimization.
Childhood Trauma is defined as “The experience of an event by a child that is emotionally painful or distressful, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects.” (The National Institute of Mental Health). Childhood trauma is an epidemic that seems to be running its way throughout the world. Childhood trauma is a worldwide problem that can affect anyone and everyone. People tend to just try and help the problems that occur due to the childhood trauma, but not the problem itself. Many of these issues will also follow the child into their adult years and will cause negative effects. This paper will discuss the negative outcomes for a child who suffers from childhood trauma, and the negative outcomes that can follow them into adulthood.
Munro (2003) states child abuse is treating a child in a way that is harmful or morally wrong however, goes on to explain it is hard to find a universal agreement of the definition of child abuse. NSPCC (2010) further explains child abuse as maltreatment of a child. This can be done directly by inflicting harm or indirectly by failing to prevent harm from happening. Abuse can be perpetrated by an adult or another child. Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013) states that it’s the responsibility of everyone who works with children to make sure that a child is safeguarded and their welfare promoted. The Purpose of this essay is firstly to discuss risk factors posed to Simone and Sasha through the scenario provided and highlight ways a professional should assess whether a child is suffering from an abusive or neglectful situation. Secondly the appropriate action that needs to be taken, and the support that needs to be given, and what services will be involved with the family in order to prevent a family brake down while safeguarding and protecting the children’s welfare, will also be discussed. Lastly this essay will draw on current legislation, guidance and procedures that promote multi– agency working in order to effectively safeguard and promote children’s welfare.
When it comes to child abuse cases, people have different viewpoints on how things should be handled. One thing that people have tried to fight is the thought of bystanders being held responsible is impractical. “The theory of social responsibility and ethics applies in both individual and group
Child abuse refers to lack of care or any type of emotional, physical or sexual mistreatment that results in emotional damage or physical injury to a child or a youth. In most countries, children are considered to be anyone below 18 years of age. Child abuse can occur directly by harming a child or indirectly by failing to prevent the child from any form of harm or injury. Child abuse can occur either in the family set up, in the community set up or in an institution such as a school. Also, children can be abused by adults or by other children or by people who know them or people who are complete strangers to them.
The states can establish agencies and organizations to prevent child abuse. This act provides supports and helps, so it can help and support parents and abused children. However, it does not address fundamental problems. Thus, this law can help but cannot remove child abuse. The ways to remove the issue is to address fundamental factors such as poverty, less education, and skills and knowledge of parenting. Also, people who notice child abuse must report. We can easily notice if physical abuses such as violence happen outside. Thus, the physical, sexual, and emotional abuses have been reported more, so we can say that system works well. However, neglects are difficult to find from outside because the home is really closure. For instance, we cannot see that parents do not give any meals. Thus, even though how much people and agencies outside try to address and investigate, it does not direct way to address and prevent the issues. As mentioned above, poverty, isolation and other factors are causes of child abuse, we should address the main causes to truly prevent and remove child abuse. The most adequate countermeasure is to make society with parents with money, time and emotional to spare. In other words, it is important that we make the society which is parents are able to have enough money, time, and healthy
In the beginning of the semester, my ideas about child abuse and neglect were very plain and simple. I honestly really only took into consideration physical and sexual abuse because those are the types of abuse you really can see and it’s a clear sign of what is going on. I never really thought about all of the different types of abuse such as neglect, psychological, exploitation, verbal, abandonment, self-neglect, and fiduciary. People really need to become more educated on all the types of abuse for many reasons. First of all, they will know what they can all do to help prevent it from happening and they will know how to put an end to it. Also, they will be more aware of any red flags they may see and they will know what to do when they