Evaluating the Efficacy of the Children Advocacy Center Model

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Recommended: The importance of child protection policy

Introduction

Child maltreatment is prevalent. A considerable proportion of young adults reported having been maltreated, neglected, or abused as children. One in five reported having been left alone at a time when a parent should have been supervising them on three or more occasions. About fourteen percent reported having been physically assaulted (slapped, kicked, or hit) three or more times. One in 20 reported having been left without basic needs (food, clothing, or cleaning) three or more times. About 1 in 25 (4.5%) report having been sexually abused by a parent or guardian on three or more instances by the time they entered the sixth grade (Hussey, Chang, & Kotch, 2006).

The Child Protective Services (CPS) system is charged with protecting victims of child abuse and neglect. When an act of child abuse has the potential to be a criminal act, however, law enforcement will also conduct an investigation. In about 49% of cases of serious physical abuse, and nearly 75% of cases of sexual abuse of children, both CPS and Law enforcement conduct investigations (Cross, Finkelhor, & Ormond, 2005) .

Historically, the conflict of philosophies, wherein CPS views the police as a stubborn single-minded, enforcement-oriented institution, which is indifferent to the needs of families; and the police view CPS as “bleeding-hearts” who fail to see the evil in the perpetrators, and whose interference can jeopardize criminal prosecutions; has resulted in limitations which have been argued to have caused harm to the children they aim to protect (Cross, Finkelhor, & Ormond, 2005) (Smith, Witte, & Fricker-Elhai, 2006).

However, the CPS system has been criticized for limitations which are believed to cause more harm to the children ...

... middle of paper ...

...altreatment, 100-113.

National Children's Alliance. (2011, October 30). Media Room: National Children's Alliance. Retrieved from National Children's Alliance: http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/mediaroom

Reardon, C. (2009, March/April). Child advocates reduce trauma of abuse. Social Work Today, pp. 1-2.

Smith, D. W., Witte, T. H., & Fricker-Elhai, A. E. (2006). Service outcomes in physical and sexual abuse cases: A comparison of child advocacy center-based and standard services. Child Maltreatment, 354-360.

Walsh, W. A., Simone, M., & Jones, L. (2003). Prosecution of child abuse : A meta-analysis of rates of criminal justice decisions. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 323-340.

Wolfteich, P., & Loggins, B. (2007). Evaluation of the children's advocacy center model: Efficiency, legal, and revictimization outcomes. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 333-352.

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