Child Welfare Timeline

Arkansas Child Welfare System Timeline In the later 1970s, reports of suspected child abuse and neglect soared in Arkansas. Social workers and child welfare administrators were tasked with investigating all the reports, monitoring and assisting the families with substantiated abuse or neglect, and safely sheltering the more endangered children in foster care homes. The state struggled with keeping up with the expanding range of federal pressure, which was more focused on the preservation of families and the option of adoption. During the 20-year period of 1974 to 1994, Arkansas child welfare authorities struggled between removing children from their parents’ custody and helping to preserve the structure of the family, without compromising …show more content…
Clinton class action lawsuit against the state of Arkansas, the number of foster care children began rising again. In this child welfare case, the plaintiff was mainly represented by the National Center for Youth Law. She complained that “DHS child welfare programs failed to investigate complaints of abuse and neglect, to make reasonable efforts to keep families together, to provide adequate care to children in foster homes, and to train foster parents” (Schlanger). It was alleged that these were in violation of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 and the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980. The successful lawsuit led to a stronger definition of the state’s responsibilities for abused and neglected …show more content…
The Child Abuse Protection and Treatment Act of 1974 effected child welfare in Arkansas by creating the reporting laws and helping more children across the state receive help. The CAPTA resulted in the induction of many more state-wide child protection and welfare laws throughout the years and will hopefully continue to be reformed and