For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222
Call 1-800-351-0222
HUMAN SERVICE AGENCIES & CHILD ABUSE.
Term Paper ID:27054
Essay Subject:
Examines effectiveness of agencies i protecting children. History, intervention, obstacles, solution-based vs. punitive approaches, impact on children, risk assessment.... More...
15 Pages / 3375 Words
14 sources, 17 Citations,
APA Format
$60.00
More Papers on This Topic
Paper Abstract:
Examines effectiveness of agencies i protecting children. History, intervention, obstacles, solution-based vs. punitive approaches, impact on children, risk assessment.
Paper Introduction:
Do Human Service Agencies Protect Children Effectively
Introduction:
While in the 1960s and 1970s, child sexual abuse and child abuse in general was almost invisible, in the 1980s and 1990s, it is a constant in the pages of newspapers and magazines, and in portrayals on television and in movies. It sometimes appears that there has been a radical increase in the abuse of children, although experts believe most of this is the result of better reporting and changes in the perception of abuse. Still, there is a need for response; often that response leads to an intervention by human service agencies, including the possibility of removing the child from the home. How effective are these agencies in pro
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
(1994). They used both a literature review of therecurrence literature and a study of families in Baltimore, MD to examinethe patterns. If this is notprovided, the system is perpetuated and one intervention is not adequate toprotect the children. (1996). (1996). However, they indicated that evidence has accumulated which shows that theintensive family preservation model has failed to protect children.Actually, that was not really its primary goal, since the initiative forthe model developed in response to criticisms of Child Protective Servicesand their removal of children from the homes. For example, the solution-focusedapproach suggests that workers initially accept the client's view that thechild's misbehavior is the problem, rather than the client's abusivebehavior. More recent practice has emphasized solution-focusedinterviewing which aims at gaining information about the family in order tohelp the family work with the human service agency in developing a plan forremediation. NY: W.W. (1999) indict both the juvenile courtand the child welfare systems, noting that both have failed in theirmissions to treat, rehabilitate, protect and care for youths. What is clear isthat child welfare workers generally have large caseloads, poor support,limited funding, uncooperative clients, and extreme pressure to make theright decisions about the safety of children (Corcoran, 1999). Memorandum on adoption and alternate permanent placement of children in the public child welfare system. Implementing child mistreatment risk assessment systems: Lessons from theory. And O'Hanlon, W.H. The juvenile court and child welfare systems. (1994). There is also a tendencyto see children as the most deserving of those who are suffering, but eventhis has been limited by a backlash against immigrants and against childrencommitting violent acts. The current system provides a wide array ofservices for children, but the effectiveness of those services is oftenquestioned.Current performance of CPS, foster care, and other services: It is clear from the literature that there are still many areas ofuncertainty in the field of child welfare. The focus of the model,then, was to keep families together, while helping with family crises andprotecting the children. This leads to unequal service provision. The intention in the following pages is to lookat the evolution of child welfare concepts, explore the current state ofhuman service agency activity regarding children, and come to someconclusion about the effectiveness of human service agencies in protectingchildren.Evolution of human service departments/child welfare protection: The history of formal governmental involvement in the provision ofwelfare services, including child welfare services, is a short one. This seems to echo the assertion by Wells and Tracy (1996) that thereneeds to be a new emphasis on out-placement of children in order to providetrue child welfare services. Solution-focused interviewing with child protective services clients. It would be helpful to identify those families moreeffectively and either provide more intensive, ongoing services or removethe children from the homes. Thereseems to be an undertone of failure, although many suggestions about how tomake improvements. Child Welfare, 78(4), 461-479.Daro, D. Newspapers report stories of children who are killedby their parents, even after notification of human service agencies. Child welfare services. Pecora etal. A brief guide to brief therapy. In other words, the only truly successful programs that have beenidentified - in terms of reducing or eliminating child maltreatment in asignificant way -are those which are long-term and begun before maltreatment of the childbegins, or is entrenched in the family system. (1996). NY: W.W. And Tracy, E. The 2 thcentury saw several waves of change, including the settlement housemovement, increased federal involvement under Roosevelt, and then decreasedfederal involvement, beginning with Richard Nixon. (1993). In this way, workers gain the cooperation of the client, but maynot immediately protect the child's interests.Is intervention, on the whole, beneficial for children: In looking at the child welfare system, it is clear that there aresignificant failures. There are criticisms of the solution-focused approach, however, whichemphasize that it seems to be more concerned about the parent's feelingsthan the immediate safety of the child. The welfare of children. These interventions mayrespond to a crisis in the family, but also precipitate new crises(Corcoran, 1999). In general, children were seen as the most deserving groupof the poor and unfortunate (Woodside and McClam, 1998). Child Abuse & Neglect, 23(7), 7 1- 713.Hurst, N.C., Sawatzky, D.D. Child Welfare, 73, 4 5-43 .DePanfilis, D. Do Human Service Agencies Protect Children EffectivelyIntroduction: While in the 196 s and 197 s, child sexual abuse and child abuse ingeneral was almost invisible, in the 198 s and 199 s, it is a constant inthe pages of newspapers and magazines, and in portrayals on television andin movies. And maluccio, A.N. (1988). However, there is evidence about the utilityof secondary prevention programs, especially those emphasizing skill-enhancement programs for at-risk parents. Certification for child protective services staff members: The Texas initiative. Still, a wide range of services are provided in modern public childwelfare, including services to strengthen parents' abilities, to supplementparental care, or to substitute for parental care (Kadushin and Martin,1988). These patterns seem to be passed from generation togeneration, both horizontally and vertically, requiring massive, widescaleintervention in the entire system (Hurst, et al., 1996). The colonies developed almshouses,although these were not very desirable institutions. Only those who were the "impotent" poor were to be providedfor a place and their keep without being required to work (Woodside andMcClam, 1998). The solution-focused approach emphasizesthat people change their lives and their situation more by taking concreteaction than by talking about their problems. This seems to be an even more negativeassessment of the ability of Child Protective Services to offer realprotection to children than her later discussion. In most families where recurrence occurred, only oneincident of recurrence happened. There is someavailable research, however, that points to generally negative results,even if death is not the outcome. ReferencesBerg, L.K. The first distinctive secular legislation was the ElizabethanPoor Law of 16 1. The Social Service Review, 73(2), 218-239.Freeman, K.A. In the United States, the first relief measures were also connectedto the Elizabethan Poor Law of 16 1. An introduction to human services. What of the situation for those children who have been permanentlyremoved from homes that have been adjudged to be unsafe and irremediable?President Clinton actually spoke to that situation in a Memorandum to theSecretary of Health and Human Services in 1996. (1992) noted that public agencies have been faced with ever morecomplex and severe problems in child welfare, but that training levels haveactually decreased over the past decade. Norton & Company, Inc.Birmingham, J., Berry, M. Child Welfare, 75(6), 693-699.Kadushin, A. Myopic justice? Weekly Compilation of Presidential documents, 32(51), 2513-2514.Corcoran, J. For this purpose, anumber of recommendations were made, including improved financialincentives to the states, implementation of the Multiethnic Placement Act,and plans to recognize successful states (Clinton, 1996). After that, the church was primarilyresponsible for developing such services, along with a few publicinstitutions. This can be accomplished even with the nonvoluntary client,the one who has been referred for abusive behavior and does not really wantto cooperate. However, healso noted that states were failing to move children from foster homes toadoptive homes or legal guardianships, managing to place only about 2 percent each year of those waiting for adoption. Child welfare services arecurrently being provided by individuals who may have little or no trainingin the relevant fields, with the number of social workers involved inservice provision decreasing. (1994). It sometimes appears that there has been a radical increase inthe abuse of children, although experts believe most of this is the resultof better reporting and changes in the perception of abuse. The government did not begin to become involved indeveloping legislation and institutions until the late Middle Ages.Institutions that were typically established were hospitals, asylums, andpoor houses. Reorienting intensive family preservation services in relation to public child welfare practice. She noted that the research evidence indicated thatapproximately 1/3 of all parents would mistreat their children during thetreatment process, while even more would mistreat their children onceservices were no longer provided. They also concluded that recurrence depended upon the type ofmaltreatment. Families with multiple problems through a Bowenian lens. And McClam, T. There continues to be certain threads in human service policy,including the concept of the "deserving poor" and the idea that providingservices encourages people to be weak and poor. Family-based service: A solution-focused approach. However, does the system, as a whole, provide effective protectionfor children, as a group? (1999). In terms of successful interventions for child maltreatment, littleis known about that, with almost nothing known about successful primary ortertiary prevention programs. Preventing child abuse and neglect: Programmatic interventions. How effective are these agencies in protecting children andimproving their situation? This legislation defined "poor" and establishedavailable services. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 564(126-141.Wells, K. (1996). There also appear to be familieswhich continue to have outbreaks of abusive or neglectful treatment undercrisis situations. Administration in Social Work, 2 (2), 41-47.DePanfilis, D. In general, there is a pessimistic tone to much of the writing aboutchild welfare, both in the popular press and the academic journals. And Morris, T.L. Investigative interviewing with children: Evaluation of the effectiveness of a training program for child protective service workers. Child welfare philosophy changed several times from the mid-19thcentury to the present. The reforms they recommend depend on combinedefforts by both the juvenile courts (who are involved in placementdecisions) and the child welfaresystem. They noted that recent practice hasemphasized family preservation programs, rather than splitting-up families. And Martin, J. However, there were families in whichmultiple recurrences resulted, and these were generally clustered(DePanfilis and Zuravin, 1999). Freeman and Morris (1999) discussed the potential for designingtraining programs with police officers and child protective service workerswhich would allow them to intervene more effectively. Still, thereis a need for response; often that response leads to an intervention byhuman service agencies, including the possibility of removing the childfrom the home. And Pare, D.P. However, the private sector moved to establish more servicesfor the poor and those with social needs, taking over from the government(Woodside and McClam, 1998). Basically, it provided for taxation of the inhabitantsin order to develop work opportunities for the poor, including children ofunfit parents. Some states, like Texas, have attempted toremedy the situation by implementing certification processes, but many morestates have not increased their standards (Birmingham et al., 1996). For example, DePanfilis and Zuravin (1999) used an epidemiologicalapproach to look at the recurrence of child maltreatment following a reportto child protective services. He noted that of thechildren who had been removed from their homes and placed in foster care,about 2 percent would not return home, but need a new home. Thereare horror stories of children removed from their families, only toexperience physical or sexual abuse in foster homes, detention, and otherinstitutions. Child Welfare, 75(6), 667-679.Woodside, M. This seems to indicate that the crisis deepens immediately afterreferral, but that services from child protective services may be effectivein limiting recurrence in most families. Schwartz et al. (1999). No one is sure exactly whatworks in helping families to change their behaviors, and what is the mosteffective intervention to protect the child's welfare. So, there are major problems. (1999). NY: oxford University Press.Pecora, P.J., Whittaker, J.K. Instead,they indicate, institutional survival has often become the goal, getting inthe way of needed reform. Unfortunately, many child protective workers still use more punitiveapproaches, as do police departments and others. Thus, the focus for workersis on establishing concrete, achievable goals for the entire family (Berg,1994). The solution-focused approach attempts to work with people inidentifying their strengths and resources, rather than punishing them orlabeling them as inadequate and abusive parents. They focused oninvestigative interviewing, which presumably would provide these workerswith better information about the situation they are dealing with. (1999). (1996). Results from survival analyses indicated that the risk of recurrencewas actually the greatest during the first 3 days following a report toChild Protective Services. Child Welfare, 75(6),727-732.Cade, B. Child protective workerswork with the family to find out what goes well in the family and toidentify effective problem resolutions. With this approach, the worker's role is helping the client identifytheir resources and needs in order to assist the client in developingbetter ways to solve problems. However, the risk of recurrence continued todecline over time, remaining low for 2 years following the termination ofservices. Norton & Company, Inc.Clinton, W.J. The interviewing does not always have to be done with punitiveintent, however. However, according to many in thefield, the past decade has seen a shift in focus in the child welfare fieldto the child protection function under Child Protective Services (Lindsey,1994). And Zuravin, S.J. InEurope, before the Middle Ages, the responsibility for the poor and sickprimarily belonged to feudal leaders. NY: Aldine de Gruyter.Schwartz, I.M., Weiner, N.A., and Enosh, G. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. And McCurdy, K. NY: Macmillan.Lindsey, D. This was designed to limitservices to the poor and ensure that they received less than the lowestworking wage. Certainly this is one approach, and given the complexity of theproblems and the general difficulty of obtaining easy, positiveresolutions, any effort to improve the system would be beneficial. This was inadequate.Consequently, he charged the federal government, and the states, to improvethose figures, at least doubling the rate of placement of children fromfoster care to permanent homes by the year 2 2. (1992). In addition, accusatory or punitive approaches tend topolarize the relationship between families and human service agencies,making it more difficult to accomplish anything (Cade and O'Hanlon, 1993).The ideal is for the family to collaborate with the human service agency inworking toward the protection of the child, even though it was initiallythe family's threat to the child's safety which began the relationship. Initially, children were removed from almshousesand other institutions, but gradually new institutions were developedspecifically for them, including juvenile reformatories, orphanages, andfoster homes. Daro and McCurdy (1994)identified several program components as important to success, includingthe provision of services to high-risk parents as soon as possible afterthe birth of their first child, providing parents with opportunities topractice and expand their social relationships and knowledge of socialservices, and providing services to parents for longer thansix months in the parents' home. And Bussey, M. Diane DePanfilis (1996) earlier had indicated that child mistreatmentrisk assessment systems in Child Protective Services were relativelyinadequate. These are used as a foundation forclients to build upon in order to cope better with stresses and respondmore effectively to their children's needs (Berg, 1994). (1998). Gradually, however,the colonists developed a more negative attitude toward the poor, which wasexpressed in the Poor Law Reform Bill of 1834. They include curbing misconduct within the system, changing theroles of both institutions, promoting national and international research,convening a national blue-ribbon commission, and promoting standardsgoverning both child protection investigations and training ofprofessionals who make the decisions. In this respect, Wells andTracy's (1996) emphasis on out-placement and long-term treatment programs,rather than the short-term family preservation model, seems quitereasonable. Epidemiology of child maltreatment recurrences. The child welfare challenge. There are clearly families in whom problems are multigenerational,affecting an array of family members and covering many different forms ofdysfunction. Many of these are mandated by federal law, including provisions ofTitle XX of the Social Security Act. This is difficult to determine, since we are most often made aware ofthe individual cases that have resulted in tragedy.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
We can write a Custom Essay just for you.
Browse Essays by Subject