Each day, the safety and well-being of children across the Nation are threatened by child abuse and neglect. Intervening effectively in the lives of these children and their families are not the sole responsibility of any agency, but rather the safety and the care of the children in need. Child Protective Services (CPS) was created by law to make sure children are safe and to help families create a safe environment for their children. When investigating a report of abuse or neglect, CPS seeks active involvement from the children’s parents and other family members to help solve issues that lead to abuse or neglect. The objective of CPS is to reunify parents and children whenever possible, and if reunification is not possible, CPS will seek to
There was the child saving efforts that happened in the United States in the 1800’s that has helped to evolve the system of child welfare (Mizrahi & Davis, 2008). The first government department that focused on the safety of children was created in 1912, the children’s bureau still remains in today’s child welfare system (Mizrahi & Davis, 2008, p. 279).
The overarching goal of Child Protective Services (CPS) is to protect children from instances of future abuse or neglect. In general, CPS is responsible for investigations of allegations of abuse and neglect, to initiate child protective proceedings and place children into foster homes when needed, with each state taking a different approach in how their agency is structured and operated. In the state of New York, CPS “first obligation is to help the family with services to prevent its break-up or to reunite it if the child has already left home” (FindLaw, 2016). The protection of the child focuses “on the child in the context of the family, and recognizes the value of the family to the child” (NY Committee on Children and Families, 2001).
Yes foster care is an essential system used to provide loving homes to children, but unfortunately these systems have become broken and can no longer keep kids safe under their care. Everyday children are being placed in foster homes facing abuse, unloving parents, and even death. The system has only progressively gotten worse leaving behind children traumatized to a point where no amount of love or therapy can fix them.
Child protection is part of the wider work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. It refers to the work carried out to protect children and young people who may be suffering from any form of abuse or neglect and involves working to protect them from maltreatment and the impairment of their health and development. This is done by ensuring children and young people are raised in a positive environment where they are kept safe and cared for. If parents or carers fail to provide protection or a caring environment for their children, they could be taken to court and result in the child being removed from the family home and placed into care.
As Hoefer states, an issue may be described as a condition that should and can be modified. The foster care system should be modified and have been modified multiple times. From the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 to the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 and then to the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, they all expand on trying to reunite children with their parents or relative (Freundlich, 2010). However, what happens when that cannot be accomplished? Then finding acceptable foster homes is next. As the program manager at Devereux Florida states, the biggest problem is finding foster homes for the growing children entering foster care or currently there for years. Many foster homes currently occupy more than two foster care children with different disabilities that can overwhelm parents, especially if they have children of their
Policies are put in place for people to follow not only in the government setting but also in much smaller settings. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016) defines policy as a clearly stated or implicit procedure, plan, rule, or stance concerning some issue that serves to guide decision making and behavior (p. 87). In the social work field policies are put into place so that there is guarantee that all clients are treated with the same respect and are offered the resources that are available to them in their community. In this paper I will discuss policies that are in place for children that are being abused and what is in place to help them. Not only are we concerned with if these policies are working but also how are they being paid
Foster care is not a perfect system. Many children that are put into the foster care system are separated from their siblings and put into harmful environments. These environments are supposed to be safe and give the child a chance at a better life. However, children living in group homes are not able to develop secure attachment to the people who are supposed to take care of them. Children bounce back and forth from house to house, family to family, causing them to live in an unstable environment through most (if not all of) their child hood. According to childrensrights.org, Children will be “further abused in systems that are supposed to protect them” (Newsroom/fact sheet). Some children end up back into that abusive or unsafe environment
The foster care system is setup to provide needs and protect children who have been neglected or abused. The main goal of the system is to take the children out of dangerous homes, and relocate them to a safe home, and to hopefully reunite the children with their biological families. While they are in foster care, their life should be greatly improved. Help should be given to those who are struggling with mental and emotional disabilities. Life skills should be taught to the children in preparation for the future. Foster care is meant to normalize the child’s life as much as possible and give help where it is needed. Although the intent of the foster care system is protecting neglected children, it may be causing
1. What can we do to fix foster care and what can we do to make foster care easier in the world? What can we teach children that are in the foster care system before they age out?
Joseph A. Doyle Jr. (2007) discusses, “Children investigated for abuse or neglect are not tracked over time in a systematic way.” (p.1584). If the foster system does not efficiently track the wellbeing of these children, it makes it difficult to provide all the necessary support for them. Providing a program that will help track, transition, and counsel these children will greatly impact the overall improvement of the foster system.
Foster care is a system in which a child under the age of eighteen, is placed in a temporary home away from one’s parents due to physical or mental neglect. Children from as young as a few days old to teenage years are placed in foster care every day. The amount of children in the system affect how needs are met and how high these youths are placed on a need of special care for problems that were developed before and while in the system. Most of which occur because they are abused and that is why they were taken away. Foster care is an escape for those being mistreated. It gives a chance to do things that maybe would not be possible if stuck in the situation that originally caused such problems. Foster
There are many flaws throughout the child welfare system that can hinder its overall goal of protecting children. There have been several cases in child protection that have resulted in tragedy, either within the foster care system itself, or in the child’s biological home.
Laws, 2014). This entire chapter on child protection laws does not mention how and if a child is to be protected from government agencies that fail to properly perform their functions. This leaves children vulnerable to the harms of being placed in unfit foster homes or under the supervision of under or unqualified adults. It also puts the child at risk of not getting the appropriate help in time to prevent a tragedy from occurring, which ultimately makes for a counterproductive
According to a Child Protective Investigation, there are approximately half a million children in the U.S. foster care system, otherwise known as congregate care (group homes and institutions). Children are placed in congregate care when they are found to be in an unsafe environment. Usually children of abuse or maltreatment are placed first (Font, 2015). Out-of-home-care causes increased problems of attachment, behavioral, and psychological disorders in the developing child.