Understanding Child Abuse: Role of Human Service Professionals

813 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Prevention and control of child abuse

The System of Child Abuse Human service professionals are required to report all cases regarding alleged child abuse and neglect. They work diligently to assist children and families through events that are often traumatic. While they work hard to provide assistance, it is important for them to be prepared to provide community resources to families and individuals who may or may not agree with receiving help. When allegations of abuse or neglect have been made, local child protective services (CPS) intervene to make decisions based on what they believe is the best option for the children involved. Their goal is not to tear families apart, but rather offer services that will provide a healthy and safe environment for children. …show more content…

Other cases may take longer to be investigated depending on the seriousness of the case. Once a report of child abuse or neglect is made, it can put the child in further danger because of the potential risk of flight by the family (Hirschy & Wilkinson, 2010, p. 74). If the family flees and relocates, it causes the abuse to continue. Furthermore, it could cause the child to be in danger of more severe abuse if the child’s parent or caretaker becomes angry about the abuse investigation and projects that anger onto the child. Implications of reporting child abuse can also occur when human service professionals are faced with ethical circumstances. Throughout the human service profession, social workers may find it necessary to disclose confidential information regarding their client to authorities, in order to comply with mandatory reporting laws involving child abuse and neglect (National Association of Social Workers, 2016, para. 1). When social workers are faced with this type of dilemma, it can have an adverse effect on the working relationship between the professional and their …show more content…

The primary community resources that could be utilized to help individuals involved in child abuse cases are individual and family counseling, substance abuse treatment, anger management, and parenting classes (Wallace & Roberson, 2014, p. 230). Individual counseling would be offered to help the parent or caregiver work on personal development as it relates to self-exploration and functional behavior. Family counseling would be offered to help build and strengthen family ties. Furthermore, it would be offered to help the family resolve conflicts and improve communication issues. Often in cases of child abuse and neglect, substance abuse is a contributing factor (Wallace & Roberson, 2014, p. 230). Therefore, in cases where substances are being abused, inpatient or outpatient services would be provided. Abusers are typically unable to express their emotions verbally and resort to violence as a way of articulating their feelings (Wallace & Roberson, 2014, p. 230). As a result, anger management would also be an appropriate resource to help abusers learn strategies to channel their anger effectively. Another factor in child abuse cases is parent’s and caregiver’s lack of parenting skills (Hirschy & Wilkinson, 2010, p. 96). Offering this resource is an effective way to provide parents and caregivers methods to care for children properly. In addition, parenting

Show More
Related

  • Social Work Case Study Essay

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    Handon, R. M. (2014, December). Client Relationships and Ethical Boundaries for Social Workers in Child Welfare. The New Social Worker, (winter), 1-6.

    Read More

  • Child Welfare System Case Study

    1752 Words  | 4 Pages

    Most services provided to families by the child welfare system have complicated requirements that make it nearly impossible for them to receive all the necessary resources. For example, the child welfare system currently provides the family with a packet of resources, in which the family on their own must contact agency after agency for services, just to be notified that there are fees to receive services or there are long waiting lists. For the most part, families are then discouraged from asking for further assistance. The child welfare system needs to be able to address the underlying issues that disadvantaged families are dealing with, which may be playing a role in the child maltreatment occurring in the home, whether it is general neglect or child abuse.

    Read More

  • Working with families is difficult and complex.

    1987 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...children, young people and their families can be both complex and difficult. Social work practice is one of the most challenging as it involves work with a diverse range of both professionals and service users. However, there is more that one single reason for this. As all professionals, agencies and parents continue to work together in various different cases, a variety of skills are required including: communication, preparation, intervention skills, assessment of significant harm, research of current legislation and decision making skills, all of which contribute to the complexities and difficulties of social work. It could be argued that these difficulties are highlighted most in many public cases of child abuse; moreover these cases can be seen to be changing social work practice, affecting the difficulties and complexities of working within this profession.

    Read More

  • Mandated Reporting Training Paper

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    Confidentiality and trust between the client and social worker is an important part of the therapeutic process. Confidentiality is discussed frequently with the client, in trainings, and in supervisions. When a client first begins services there are multiple forms to fill out, many of which explain the agency’s confidentiality policies and provide client’s the opportunity to agree to share information with certain parties (i.e. their PCP, psychiatrist, specialty providers) or not share any information at all. Despite this focus on confidentiality there are some areas where “the rights of others take precedence over a client’s right to confidentiality” (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney, & Gottfried, 2017, p. 76). In situations where child abuse or neglect is suspected by the social worker, the social worker will breach confidentiality in order to protect the child. In fact, “all 50 states have statutes making it mandatory for professional to report suspected or known child abuse. Moreover,

    Read More

  • Child Endangerment Case Study

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    The department of children and family services in Any Town USA passed a new policy based on the social learning theory. This new policy insinuates in relation to this theory that children who are exposed to and raised with parents (or other adult guardian) who have documented legal charges including drug use or possession, abuse (neglect) charges, or domestic violence charges (and or convictions) are committing child endangerment. The new policy states that any parent or guardian with pending offenses as indicated will have their children taken from their homes to be placed in the care of state services until the accused guardian or parent can provide documented proof that they are no longer being investigated for any charges for at least six months and have completed all the required programs that they have been ordered to. These programs or classes can include substance use treatment programs, individual counseling, family therapy psychiatric therapy, and parenting classes.

    Read More

  • Mandated Reporter Training Research

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    Participating in the Mandated Reporter Training is a helpful tool for understanding the role of a social worker as a professional if and when one learns information concerning abuse of a minor. The goal of a social worker is to improve the quality of life for all individuals and if one learns about any type of abuse-physical, sexual, emotional, and/or neglect- it is their responsibility to bring this information to the proper authorities. The training stated that, “Research has shown that when multidisciplinary protocols are followed arrest and prosecution rates increase and trauma to the child decreases” (Arizona Child Abuse Info Center).

    Read More

  • Reflecting On Changes In Children's Behaviour

    1690 Words  | 4 Pages

    Children’s Social Care work with parents and other agencies to assess the stages of child protection procedures, record information and make decisions on taking further action. The police work closely with this agency to act on decisions made such as removing a child or the person responsible for the abuse while gathering evidence and carrying out investigations regarding the matter. Health professionals have a duty to report suspected non-accidental injuries to Children’s Social Care and examine children to give evidence of abuse. The Children Act 2004 requires every local area to have a Local Safeguarding Children Board to oversee the work of agencies involved in child protection, place policies and procedures for people who work with children and conduct serious case reviews when children die as a result of abuse. The NSPCC is the only charitable organisation that has the statutory power to take action when children are at risk of abuse. They provide services to support families and children and two helplines for children in danger and adults who are concerned for a child’s safety. They also raise awareness of abuse, share their expertise with other professionals and work to influence the law and social policy protect children more efficiently. There are also acts in place to protect children such as the Children Act 1989, the United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child 1989, the Education Act 2002 and the Children Act 2004. Legal framework from such acts are provided for Every Child Matters which requires early years practitioners to demonstrate that they provide activities that help children protect themselves. This may be through books and group talks known as “Stranger

    Read More

  • Child Protective Services

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    Child Protective Services For 30 years, advocates, program administrators, and politicians have joined forces to encourage even more reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Their efforts have been successful, with about three million cases of suspected child abuse having been reported in 1993. Large numbers of endangered children still go unreported, but a serious problem has developed: Upon investigation, as many as 65 percent of the reports now being made are determined to be "unsubstantiated", raising serious civil liberties concerns and placing a huge burden on investigative staff. Unreported Cases Most experts agree that reports have increased over the past 30 years because professionals have become more likely to report apparently abusive and neglectful situations. But the question remains: How many more cases still go unreported?

    Read More

  • Child Protective Service Worker

    1383 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Child Protective Service worker is a career that can be mentally and physically exhausting with emotional upheaval and wonderfully rewarding all at the same time. This paper discusses several “best practices’, their descriptions, and how they are put in use to assist the children who need help and the parents who unwillingly become a part of the Child Welfare system; even though they count on the system to help them better themselves and the lives of their children. Child Protective Service workers require extensive training, vast knowledge, multiple values, and strong ethics to effectively assist this

    Read More

  • Child Protective Services: Ethics in Organization Culture

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    Child Protective Services (CPS) is a common name for a government agency that is responsible for ensuring the safety of children. In general, CPS conducts an investigation when there is a report of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and/or emotional abuse. CPS will go to the home and assess the situation. Depending on the situation, CPS can offer voluntary services to maintain family preservation or in cases where the children are at risk of harm, the children are removed from the home while the parents are required to participate in community services for family reunification (CWLA, 2007).

    Read More

  • Child Abuse And Neglect Statistics: Case Study

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    People are appalled when they hear about a child who died at the hands of their parents, yet they turn a blind eye to the signs leading up to their death. In today 's society, there are currently quite a few flaws with how the safety and protection of children is handled. For far too many children, their physical abuse goes unreported due to factors such as wanting to avoid getting involved, while emotional abuse goes unnoticed. Consequently, studies show that currently three times as many children are abused than are reported to CPS agencies (“Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics”). CPS which stands for child protective services is an American organization responsible for investigating the abuse of minors, though they are unable to investigate

    Read More

  • Child-Protective Service Workers

    1558 Words  | 4 Pages

    First, they must look into the child safety. Secondly, if the child is a risk CPS will get involved and discuss with the family about how to diminish future mistreatment. Then help the child develop good coping skill due to the following abuse. On the other hand, if

    Read More

  • School Counseling Case Study

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the law does not specifically state the school counselors as one who is legally and ethically required to report suspected cases of abuse or neglect because one works in school, however the role of the school counselor is to ensure that students are safe from harm. The school counselor is legally mandated to report suspected child abuse or neglect within 24 hours once they have reason to believe abuse or neglect has occurred. Suspected abuse or neglect should be reported to the Department of Social Services by contacting the toll-free child abuse or neglect hotline. Reports should be made in the county where the abuse or neglect took place or in the county where the child resides. (State Statutes Search Results, n.d.). Before one reports suspected abuse one should be well-informed of the types of abuse and neglect in their

    Read More

  • Importance Of Listening To Children

    2552 Words  | 6 Pages

    In conclusion, social workers have a professional duty to safeguard and protect children; this can only be achieved if they maintain professional boundaries with all parties involved and work effectively with other professionals to ascertain this goal. Social worker’s have the responsibility to find a medium through which to reach the child, as opposed to the child establishing this. Social workers should always challenge any concerns they may have about a vulnerable child because that little step may lead to saving a life. True listening to children has the potential to produce positive outcomes for children because as it empowers them to influence decisions that affect their lives rather than being passive recipients of services, which may have tragic consequences.

    Read More

  • Early Intervention Child Abuse

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    In past few years, there are many countries that developed different programs and plans for intervention in child abuse and neglect. But, some of them fail to reach the goal. When there is contact with family or client, at this moment this is intervention. Effective prevention and early intervention services can make a difference when provided at the right time. Intervention is all about time, matter of weeks. In fact, at this critical period you can achieve a progress that is not even equivalent up to 3 years of case treatment and management. Intervention methods are just putting a bandage on the issue of child abuse and neglect (Mathieson, Reynolds, & Topizes, 2009).

    Read More

More about Understanding Child Abuse: Role of Human Service Professionals

Open Document