Nuances of Child Welfare

Nuances Of Child Welfare

There are an abundant amount of children everyday who die from child abuse. This is unbearable and what is even more astonishing is that there are 3.6 million cases of child abuse in America annually. These statistics are a minute numerical value on the issue at hand. This goes to show the grave necessity for competent child welfare services and its importance to our youth today. Child welfare consists of services and organizations that are concerned with the betterment of children's lives. The children and youth involved in child welfare are considered society’s most vulnerable members (Stuart, Leischard 2012). In the US each state has their own child welfare service with different titles, but all with the same purpose (Foster 2013). There have been legislative acts produced to support laws and financial allocation for child welfare agencies. This is apparent in the copious laws attributed to the progression of a social reform in this regard (Maxwell 2012), along with the many agencies across the country that are dedicated to this concept alone. This does not solely have a huge effect on their lives now, but also hinders a child’s future as well.

Child welfare services are tasked with alleviating children out of hostile situations that they may be in, in regards to their living situations and their life as a whole. Parental conduct is also fixed into the equation as far as the treatment of children. Substance abuse among parents, is one of the causes of the amount of kids in foster homes (McCartney 2004). For obvious reasons substance abuse is not ideal, but when parenting a child this combination makes the parent often unable to properly tend to the child’s needs. Substances impair judgment, as well as their priorities such as financial necessities (Duquette 2012). These lapses in judgment often lead to the child neglect or abuse. The children age from infancy to 18 years old. Psychological studies indicate that these are the years where children are most susceptible to abuse, and when they are abused in any form age these early ages, its consequences are more damaging. This does not necessarily always relate to children who have been battered but even the slight hint that a family may be involved in maltreatment of the child, child welfare services are mandated to investigate. This amount of flexibility is a push in the right direction as far as helping the children (Jacobs, Saus 2012). The other body this is directed for are for children who are in high risk abuse situations, who are also in custody with the public child welfare system, and who are in foster care or other alternative living situations. There are plethora of acts that are qualified as child abuse, not necessarily physical abuse, neglect also falls under this category. The types of abuse many children with stand come from a physical and mental capacity, ranging from sexual, emotional