Forensic Social Work Essay

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When it comes to the term “Forensic Social Work”, the definition can be defined as a social work practice which in any way is related to legal issues and litigation, both criminal and civil (Mashci and Killian, 2011). Forensic social work is the application of social work to questions and issues relating to law and legal systems (Maschi and Killian, 2011). There are many different connections of social work practices that can go along with forensic social work, however, child welfare is, without a doubt, an aspect of social work that has been an ongoing and current trend in Forensic Social Work. Child welfare is the system of public and private services that focus on ensuring that all children live in safe, permanent and stable environments …show more content…

Although it may not be heard of as much, forensic social work has also been around since the early 20th century. The structure of child welfare services began in the 1800’s. Early influences stemmed from poor child labor laws that were developed at the time. Early welfare programs that brought attention to people included the Social Security Act, Title XX, and the Child Abuse and Protection Act (Mangold, 2007). Since the 1970’s, child welfare has had an ongoing description of their primary focus as being removing children from their homes. Child welfare makes effort to provide what the best course of action is for children. These child welfare services are broken up into supportive, supplementary, and substitute services ranging from least restrictive to most …show more content…

First, we must help the public recognize the relation between child abuse, neglect, and other social ills (Hwa-ok, Solomon, Gelles, & White, 2010). Then, we must establish a national child abuse and neglect prevention policy. Third, we must analyze existing funding sources and develop financial plans to support activities that prevent child abuse and neglect. Lastly, we must promote numerous diverse powerful people in society to encourage the public to support necessary changes to prevent child abuse and neglect (Hwa-ok, Solomon, Gelles, & White, 2010). With these steps being done, child neglect will receive the necessary attention that it is lacking right

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