Soc 425 Hw

SOC 425 HW

1. 19th Century

• Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children intervened and advocated for children in child abuse cases.
• Children could be victims of pedophiles, dangerous work environments, subjected to marriage at a very young age and to all types of abuse in the home, to prostitution, and even death; and this was considered no one else’s business.
• The law protected adults whereas the children had no rights.

     20th Century

• Literature, like Oliver Twist, exposed society to shocking stories of child abuse.
• Society morally agreed that child abuse is wrong.
• Legally, however, rights were still given to the “offending” adults.
• The Child Welfare League of America was established.
• The Battered Child Syndrome became a phenomenon that disrupted business as usual for society and lead to child protection organizations.
• Helping professionals were realizing they played a role in keeping children safe and so child abuse awareness affected the way business was conducted in many hospitals and other organizations
• Child Protective services was established. The government became more involved in their protocols over time.

    Today

• Definitions of terms like abuse and maltreatment are still being debated and fine-tuned over time.
• A multi-dimensional approach involving the law, social workers, and medical professionals is more prevalent.
• The child has more rights today than ever before in this country. Whereas before, parents could literally beat their children to death without penal consequences, today in some states like Delaware, inflicting pain upon your child is illegal and has many repercussions.
• There are strict protocols by which CPS agencies must adhere. These organizations are much more organized, respected, and backed by the government.

2. The working definition of family here is “a group of people living together or having regular contact who are expected to perform specific functions, especially in reference to the children involved. The primary function is raising children” (Chapter 2 PPT). Subsystems such as parental figures, sex and age groups all serve a part in orienting a child into the family and in society. From each subsystem, the child learns different role characteristics which helps to generate their self-image. Parents especially have a significant role because their role affects all the others. In addition to being role models, they are expected to protect, nurture and discipline the children in the least.

3. The following definition is inclusive to working definitions in both textbooks: “Child neglect may be defined as a condition in which a caretaker responsible for the child either deliberately or by extraordinary inattentiveness permits the child to experience available present suffering and/or fails to provide one or more of the ingredients generally deemed essential for developing a person’s physical, intellectual, and emotional capacities.”

4. The child neglect Index is an assessment tool that social workers use to more objectively identify and assess factors of neglect in order to determine if neglect is occurring.