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Causes and effects of child abuse
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Causes of child abuse
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Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
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.
According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website, the Rio Grande Valley falls under Region 11, with three locations in the Hidalgo County area consisting of Edinburg, McAllen, and Weslaco. There are also two in Cameron County, which are in the Harlingen and Brownsville Area (DFPS).
The purpose of this program is to ensure the safety of children, elderly a...
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...ces provided by Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to ensure that people of all ages feel safe and secure in their living environment. Ultimately, abuse extends to everyone in the family and beyond, it is not a segregated issue, but it is a critical societal issue that should be treated with the utmost importance.
Works Cited
Brott, A. (2010). A System Out of Control: The Epidemic of False Allegations of Child Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.fathersmanifesto.net/armin.htm
Guthrie , J. W., Heyneman, S. P., & Braxton , J. M. (2002).Encyclopedia of education . (2nd ed., pp. 283-289). Farmington Hill, Michigan: Cengage Gale.
Hurley, Jennifer (1999). Child Abuse Opposing Views . San Diego : Greenhaven Press, Inc. print.
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. (March 5, 2014). Retrieved from http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/child_protection/
Each of the 50 states has an agency responsible for protecting children. In Los Angeles, California, this agency is known as DCFS (Department of Children and Families Services). The Los Angeles Department of Family Services has recently made the news after a class action law suites ranging in the millions has left locals wondering whether or not DCFS is actually protecting the children they take into their custody. With the increasing number of cases each day, concerns are being raised as to whether the rights of parents are being violated. It is common knowledge that there have been serious accuracy flaws resulting in the wrongful termination of many parents’ rights. However, little is being done to fix these errors and give parents their children back. Child Protective Services is the most needed yet unwanted Agencies in each state. While a system is necessary to intervene and protect children who are abused, there are speculation on the procedures and policy the state uses. While interventi...
All the benefits provided by CAPTA are important, but one highly important benefit CAPTA provides for infants and children is that all allegations of child abuse and neglect must be investigated to ensure the well-being and safety of every infant and child. After allegations of child abuse and neglect are reported an investigation is the next step in protecting every child. Another benefit of CAPTA for infants and children is that if the heart wrenching experience of child abuse or neglect occur the state CPS systems and private organizations are trained and prepared to provide treatment for the child. In a like manner, CAPTA provides benefits for women and families by providing support and services that address domestic violence. CAPTA also promotes family involvement in all aspects of a CPS case involving child abuse and neglect. The states benefit by the foundation that CAPTA sets regarding the functioning of CPS systems and in a financial aspect. CAPTA provides funding to “Support child abuse and prevention activities by funding discretionary grants to states and/or public or private agencies or organizations” (California Department of Child Services, 2011). Everyone benefits when CPS systems according to CAPTA policies, “The act’s sponsors meant to feature three important themes of CPS reform in these amendments, including encouraging the involvement of family members in a child welfare agency’s decisions process; promoting and enhancing COS collaboration with domestic violence services and substance abuse treatment programs, and increasing the use of differential response by states through the use of noninvestigative/nonaccusatory approach to responding to reports of child maltreatment” (American Bar Association,
Education." Midwest Quarterly 44, no. 2 (Winter2003 2003): 211. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed April 11, 2014).
The controversial issue of whether or not Child Protective Services are doing their jobs properly, has grabbed nationwide attention. Child Protective Services is the name of a government agency in many states of the United States whose mission is to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. Some of these cases may include physical abuse, sexual abuse, and mental abuse (Wikipedia). The child welfare system is corrupted. The parents and guardians who are accused of abuse are automatically labeled as guilty and will have to prove their innocence; instead of being innocent until proven guilty.
Most services provided to families by the child welfare system have complicated requirements that make it nearly impossible for them to receive all the necessary resources. For example, the child welfare system currently provides the family with a packet of resources, in which the family on their own must contact agency after agency for services, just to be notified that there are fees to receive services or there are long waiting lists. For the most part, families are then discouraged from asking for further assistance. The child welfare system needs to be able to address the underlying issues that disadvantaged families are dealing with, which may be playing a role in the child maltreatment occurring in the home, whether it is general neglect or child abuse.
In 1974, the United States Congress passed an act that would provide the necessary laws and regulations that would protect those who have become victims of child abuse and neglect. According to this policy was meant to: “provide financial assistance for a demonstration program for the prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect” (CAPTA of 1974 P.L. 93-247). This law became known as Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was first amended in 1974 and became known as CAPTA. However, over the years CAPTA has been amended several times. When CAPTA was amended on June 25, 2003 it became part of the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003. The most recent amendment of the law was on December 1, 2010 (Public Law 108-36) (About CAPTA: A Legislative History). By definition, which was established in 1974, CAPTA is defined as “the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child under the age of eighteen by a person who is responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances which indicate tha...
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).
Domenico, Desirae M., Ph.D, and Karen H. Jones. "ERIC - Education Resources Information Center." Education Resources Information Center. N.p., Fall 2007. Web. 26 Dec. 2013.
Widom, Cathy. (1995) “Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse– Later Criminal Consequences” National Institute of Justice. Online.
...or state organizations to provide these additional services for families, they are in need of government funding. “States can use about 10% of federal dedicated child welfare funds flexibly for family services and supports, including prevention or reunification services…”. More funds are needed for the organizations to provide services to all members of the family, both directly and indirectly involved. The Nurse-Family Partnership program found a “48% lower level of abuse and neglect for children served through the program than children in the control group”. So having access to these services has shown a reduction in child abuse. As discussed in class, the goal is always to keep the child in the home. This article is aiming to do that but need funds and additional resources in order to accomplish this. (Pew Charitable Trust, 2008)
Kalichman, Seth C. Mandated Reporting of Suspected Child Abuse, Ethics, Law, and Policy. Washington DC: APA, 2005.
In American society today we fail to address several issues that need to be addressed. Unfortunately, child abuse is one of the major issues that our country is plagued with, yet we neglect to bring this to the attention of the entire nation. It is often over looked because everyone has a different view of what exactly defines child abuse. The International Child Abuse Network (ICAN) uses four basis categories to docunment the child abuse cases. They are: emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. I will be describing the first three.
Funding is awarded to support ongoing research programs to identify, prevent and treat child abuse and neglect and to collect and distribute data. Projects that are currently funded are Child Welfare Information Gateway website, the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services, National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response, annual publication of Child Maltreatment and the initiative on Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visitation to Prevent Child Maltreatment.
Family violence is an issue that we as social workers will probably encounter during the course of our careers. While there are many forms of family violence, I view child abuse and neglect as the worst forms. Nothing bothers me more than knowing that somewhere, someone is abusing a completely helpless individual. I view it as our duty not only as social workers but also as humans to ensure that no child has to experience the pain and suffering involved with child abuse and neglect. This may seem like an impossible task, people have been trying for years to end child abuse with no success. I believe, however, that we have the ability to end the threat of child abuse. I hope to accomplish several things with this paper. First of all, I want you to come away from this paper knowing what child abuse and neglect is. Secondly, I want you to know how often it occurs and what the effects are. Finally, I will lay out a potential plan for ending the threat of child abuse and neglect that we as social workers can adopt and advocate for.
Although child abuse has soon become a more discussed issue, it is nothing new in today’s society. Dating back to ancient times, physical child abuse has always attributed to lives of people around the world. Approaching and understanding child mistreatment has changed as societies have modernized and progressed; whereas one thing remains an unalterable issue, child abuse happens constantly and continuously worldwide.