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Policy Paper

Kyla Brooks

HMSV35061ELBV222T Human Services Prog & Policies

Zadok Nampala

November 27, 2022

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Child Abuse & Neglect

Did you know that the United States loses an average of 5 children a day to child

abuse? The United States has the highest child lose rate out of the industrialized nations.

This is a topic that the United States in my opinion needs to do a better job on. There is no

reason that we are losing that many children a day to child abuse. If you look at 2019 state

agencies alone found over 656,000 victims of child maltreatment. This many children would

pack a modern football stadium 10 times.

When doing my research on this topic I found that confidentiality place a role in child

abuse. When you are a mandated reporter, you want to feel safe that your name will not be

told to the person who is being turned in. Another part of the confidentiality that is a problem

is getting information from one another about the child when there are joint services. If the

school is having a concern about the child, there is no way that is doctor would know because

the information isn’t shared by joint services. “Abuses and neglected children can benefit

from an environment of openness and a system that provides for thorough sharing of all

information potentially relevant to the child or case at issue, including but not limited to

records that might otherwise be considered confidential.” (First Star. (2022).).

Another reason I believe the United States has a high child abuse rate is a lack of

human services workers. “Child welfare systems across the country are stretched beyond

capacity, causing many social work professionals to be extremely overburdened. With solid

education and training, supervision and support, and access to the appropriate resources,

social workers can effectively serve children, youths, and families involved in child welfare

to ensure healthier outcomes and enhanced well-being.” (NASW. (2015). I work as a family

support specialist, and I find myself having to many caseloads and when I do talk to my

family’s social workers, they can’t even get their families straight without having to look

them up on the computer. Another reason we are lacking social workers is due to the high
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stress level of the job and lack of pay. “Working in stressful environments that include high

caseloads and workloads, inadequate supervision, safety concerns, and limited training and

resources (for example, access to emerging technology). All these conditions, coupled with

low salaries and administrative burdens, can affect the recruitment and retention of qualified

staff.” (NASW. (2015).

Another reason for high child abuse is the United States is due to poor, young,

uneducated parents. These parents are more likely than other moms and dads to mistreat their

kids. When children are born into young families not prepared to receive them, local social

safety nets may be frayed, or non-existent. As a result, they are unable to compensate for the

household stress the child must endure.

Human Service Policies

The first child abuse prevention was passed by Congress in 1974. It was called Child

Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974. It was created by the federal government to

prevent and respond to child abuse and neglect in the United States by offering funding to

stated and non-profit organizations. “Currently all 50 states and the District of Colombia

accept CAPTA funding for prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution, and treatment

activities related to child abuse and neglect.” (First Star. (2022).). Although CAPTA set

national standards, the states have the freedom to set their own specifications.

Another program that was passed to help children was the Adoption Assistance and

Child Welfare of 1980. This created Title IV-E and set place the first federal rules to govern

child welfare care management, permanency planning and foster care placement reviews. By

them passing the AACW it required the court to review welfare care regularly and to make

effort to keep families together via prevention and family reunification services. States were

required that the develop a reunification and prevention program and that children that were

placed in foster care be seen at least every 6 months.

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The Adoption and Safe Families Act was passed in 1997. It was “created in response

to criticisms that inadequate resources were devoted to adoption as a permanent placement

option for abused children, that the child welfare system was more concerned with family

preservation than with child protection, and that too many children languished indefinitely in

the foster care system.”(First Star. (2022.)) ASFA was passed to increase the number of

adoptions and to encourage states to not have children places in foster care to long. This

program was expanded in 2001 and now called Promoting Safe and Stable Families.

Additionally, funding was given to be used for “four core purposes: family preventions,

community-based family support services, time-limited reunification services, and adoption

promotion and support services.

Personal Reflection
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References

NASW. (2015). Strengthen Child Welfare Service Delivery to Enhance Child and Family

Well-Being. https://www.socialworkers.org/Advocacy/Policy-Issues/Child-Welfare

Child Help. (2019). Child Abuse Statistics. https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse-

statistics/#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20more%20than%204,to%20child%20abuse

%20and%20neglect.

First Star. (2022). Policy & Legislation. http://www.firststar.org/learn-more/policy-

legislation/