Child Welfare Policy

Child welfare policy has evolved throughout the history of the United States; beliefs have changed along with the proper approach to handle different situations. If we look back at how child welfare started with the orphaned children or street kids and children as young as 6 working to support themselves and families (Martin, 2014). Child welfare evolved from indentured servitude and apprenticeships to slavery, which did not make the welfare of children any better due to the slave owners did not always treat the children very well (Martin, 2014). In the 19th century many children migrated with their parents from Africa and both the children and parents were bought into slavery (Martin, 2014). This was due to the parents wanted the children …show more content…
These tragedies lead to parents being destitute and unable to care for their children which lead to the children being on the streets or trying to find work that they could perform to help support their family. The children that were on the streets in the middle to late 1800s had the chance of ending up in orphan asylums (Martin, 2014). These asylums did not just take the children who had lost both parents, but also the ones who parents were so destitute that they were not able to care for them (Martin, 2014). The orphanages kept the children off the streets, but it did not necessarily improve how they were living. From the orphanages child welfare moved into farming out children or the orphan train, where a Reverend was sending children from New York to the west where families were given the choice of what child they would take in and care for (Martin, …show more content…
Roosevelt was in office that child labor laws were passed and changes started to be made to the child welfare system (Martin, 2014). This changes took kids out of places of business where adults should be performing the job and set minimum ages for those that could be in the workforce (Martin, 2014). These changes helped to start a child welfare system that may not be perfect still today, but at least the children are most of the time receiving the care that need. The system today has learned a lot from what has happened in the past 50 to 100 years and it will continue to evolve as we move forward. We cannot look ahead and determine what changes are going to be made, but those that look back 50 years from now will see that it was not perfect and there still needed to be so further accountability since there are still children that are falling through the