Child Welfare Programs and Policies in America Today

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Child Welfare has been a dominant issue in almost every society. There have always been destitute orphans and poor children, and society has always attempted to provide and protect these helpless citizens. The Child Welfare programs and policies in America today are very complex, and some would say very efficient, but I think there will always be room for improvement. In this literature review, I will discuss and present the information and arguments I have discovered in the topic of child welfare: adoption, foster care, and what works. I believe that both adoption and foster care can potentially be benefiting systems for children who need them, but I also believe that our country needs to decide what the best possible solution is for these children and implement that policy immediately. I realize that nothing is perfect, and no policy or program will ever solve all of our problems, but that does not mean we should stop searching for better ways to do things. I will begin with the history of child welfare, discuss present child welfare process and its results today, and then conclude with an assessment of what is actually working and what is not. Throughout the review, I will be continuously mentioning social work’s influence on the topic and how we, as future social workers, can prepare for the challenges the lie ahead for us.
The first legislative action that provided dependable support for those in need (including dependant children) was known as the English Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601. “Dependent children without relatives capable of supporting them were placed in service under whatever citizen placed the lowest bid for public reimbursement to provide the child’s care” (Kirst-Ashman, 2010, pg.172). In this time, despite this ...

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...) in the child welfare system were found through assessments to have developmental problems on one or more of three measures of functioning used in that study” (Ward, 2009, pg.1). Ward’s entire synopsis lists different aspects of this obviously detrimental effect of the child welfare system.
We have discussed the history of child welfare, the process of child welfare, and the benefits/disadvantages of the child welfare programs today. This is a huge piece of social work that social workers must be prepared to face, and we need to constantly advocate for these dependant children who we will be failing if we do not construct a better system and give them a better potential by the time they leave the system. No one denies the problems that our country’s child welfare programs have, and the research is there; we need to study it and actively participate in changing it.

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