Before I complete this sentence a child somewhere will be abused or neglected in some way. According to childhelp.org the United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations- losing on average between four and seven children every day to child abuse and neglect in the United States. A report of child abuse occurs every ten seconds. Child abuse is a subject that has plagued the world for centuries. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974 is one of the key pieces of legislation that guides child protection. Parens patriae is a Latin term that means parent of the nation. This term is the premise behind the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act; it declares that the government has authority to intervene
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The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: 40 Years of Safeguarding America’s Children (2014) states that the goal may be the most ambitious ever undertaken: a comprehensive child welfare system that supports children, families, and communities in ways that will prevent the occurrence- or recurrence- of maltreatment in the future. This act seeks to fulfill this goal through collaborating with others across the world that are involved in and have an interest in child abuse prevention and the welfare of children. According to Child Welfare: An Overview of Federal Programs and Their Current Funding (Stolzfus, 2015), another objective is to provide a primary social service response to abuse or neglect of children by their parents or other caregivers. This policy allows each state and territory the opportunity to receive funds in order to improve the operation of their child protective services (CPA). However, in order to attain these funds each state has to have an effective system in place to show how it operates and that confidentiality is maintained and that the process runs smooth and that any child in question of being mistreated will be protected throughout the process while not experiencing any added …show more content…
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act are no different. The main goal with this act is to save lives and to protect the welfare of children however, realistically, every child will not be saved nor every case resolved. In an article Child Welfare, Lyons (2016) mentions how advocates and policy makers agree with the notion that more can be done to prevent maltreatment. Currently, evidence of data has shown to be obscure in identifying risk factors. Big- data algorithms, Lyons (2016) says use risk factors such as unemployment, finances, and neighborhoods to show where maltreatment is more prevalent. Using this method sometimes can be inconsistent and can often target unwarranted cases. Sometimes, child abuse cases become those in which poverty is confused with neglect because of how the law defines neglect. Multiple studies have shown that 30 percent of foster care children could be home if their parents had decent housing. Lyons (2016) goes on to say that no case worker is going to defy an algorithm, even if it means there are biases and discrepancies present, instead, caseworkers will continue removing children from families, further overfilling the system and leaving less time to find those situations that are actually dangerous. It is evident that while the government has a solid interest in protecting the welfare of children there is still a need to improve the operation of the policy to ensure that
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: 40 Years of Safeguarding America’s Children (2014) states that the goal may be the most ambitious ever undertaken: a comprehensive child welfare system that supports children, families, and communities in ways that will prevent the occurrence- or recurrence- of maltreatment in the future. This act seeks to fulfill this goal through collaborating with others across the world that are involved in and have an interest in child abuse prevention and the welfare of children. According to Child Welfare: An Overview of Federal Programs and Their Current Funding (Stolzfus, 2015), another objective is to provide a primary social service response to abuse or neglect of children by their parents or other caregivers. This policy allows each state and territory the opportunity to receive funds in order to improve the operation of their child protective services (CPA). However, in order to attain these funds each state has to have an effective system in place to show how it operates and that confidentiality is maintained and that the process runs smooth and that any child in question of being mistreated will be protected throughout the process while not experiencing any added …show more content…
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act are no different. The main goal with this act is to save lives and to protect the welfare of children however, realistically, every child will not be saved nor every case resolved. In an article Child Welfare, Lyons (2016) mentions how advocates and policy makers agree with the notion that more can be done to prevent maltreatment. Currently, evidence of data has shown to be obscure in identifying risk factors. Big- data algorithms, Lyons (2016) says use risk factors such as unemployment, finances, and neighborhoods to show where maltreatment is more prevalent. Using this method sometimes can be inconsistent and can often target unwarranted cases. Sometimes, child abuse cases become those in which poverty is confused with neglect because of how the law defines neglect. Multiple studies have shown that 30 percent of foster care children could be home if their parents had decent housing. Lyons (2016) goes on to say that no case worker is going to defy an algorithm, even if it means there are biases and discrepancies present, instead, caseworkers will continue removing children from families, further overfilling the system and leaving less time to find those situations that are actually dangerous. It is evident that while the government has a solid interest in protecting the welfare of children there is still a need to improve the operation of the policy to ensure that