ACEs are a social problem that interconnect and affect communities and families. The Social Ecological Model (SEM) considers the multifaceted interaction between various influences and has been used by the CDC to prevent child maltreatment. Child maltreatment includes several categories of ACEs and is an example of toxic stress. Therefore, the SEM prevention model would be appropriate for Washington County, as the prevention of ACEs requires understanding all the potential conditions and factors that cause them. The CDC uses a four level social ecological model to better understand potential strategies for prevention. The SEM studies the interchange between individual, relationship, community and societal elements (Middlebrooks & Audage, 2008). Individual Level Factors and Strategies Individual level elements include biological factors and personal experiences such as alcohol or drug use, social tendencies, income, education and history of impulsive behavior or violence. Interventions for individual-level influences are designed to affect individual social and cognitive skills, and include counseling and psychotherapy along with education and training ("Sexual Violence Prevention Fact Sheet | ATSA"). …show more content…
Family or relationship level factors influencing ACEs include domestic violence, the absence of a parent through divorce or separation, physical, sexual or emotional child abuse or emotional or physical neglect. Intervention at the relationship level is intended to enable individual behavior change by affecting social and cultural norms. Interventions for interpersonal relationship level influences could include family therapy and parenting training. Messages from peers, household members, providers and community workers are an important component in prevention work at the relationship
Implementing successful prevention strategies will require the need to provide assistance to the entire family and focus both on the child’s safety and well-being as well as the parents’ emotional and economic well-being.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACE) conducted by Felitti et al. (1998) proposed that children who experienced maltreatment and neglect along with dysfunctional family systems were at higher risk for developing physiological and psychological problems later in life. The ACE studies demonstrated the collective effects of negative childhood experiences on physical and mental health issues. These disorders include; substance abuse, suicidal ideality, and depression, as well as a host of medical problems (Putnam, Harris & Putnam, 2013). In addition, the study indicated that exposure to two or more adverse childhood experiences is linked to higher rates of smoking, promiscuity, substance abuse, and eating disorders (Anda et al., 2006).
The intervention was established in 1983 by Dr. Stephen J. Bavolek and is based on the learning concepts of psychoeducational and cognitive-behavioral approaches (Family Development Resources, 2015; Nurturing Parenting Programs, 2016). The programs are divided into three levels of prevention: primary, which focuses on preventing abuse and neglect before parents give birth to their child secondary, which focuses on intervening during the early stages of maltreatment before it escalates to abuse; and tertiary, which focuses on treating families identified by social services by replacing abusive and neglectful parenting styles with nurturing parenting techniques (Family Development Resources, 2015).
The risk factors for child sexual abuse can be classified into three broad categories: the Perpetrator’s, family and community risk factors. Perpetrator risk factors are those factors associated with adult who may commit such an abuse. They include drug and alcohol abuse, acceptance of violence, prior sexual abuse, suicidal tendencies, exposure to explicit sexual content and poor social skills among others (Finkelhor et al, 2014).
Poverty, addictions and mental health all contribute to this frightening social problem in the United States. Childhelp has a unique three step approach to helping end, as well as treat child abuse and neglect. First, programs exist to prevent the cycle of abuse. This is important because 30% of abused and neglected children will go on to be an abuser. Second, Childhelp has an intervention program that is dedicated to interceding and removing children from abusive and dangerous situations. Childhelp states that 80% or more of children who die from child abuse or neglect are younger than age five and therefore unable to remove themselves from living in danger. Lastly, Childhelp has a treatment program designed to give children a safe place to fall, with love, while equipping them with the tools needed to move forward from their hurtful pasts (Childhelp,
The earlier children begin to experience adversity the more detrimental and long-term the psychological, physical, emotional, and behavioral effects will be; exposure to multiple adversities increases the likelihood of children developing psychological and behavioral issues. Researchers in this study first collected data from previous research done on the relationship between ACEs, delinquency, and substance abuse from Wave I of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW II), which is a national longitudinal study of a number of children from the ages of birth to 18 years. Investigations performed by child welfare agencies in the US determined whether these children were victims of child abuse and/or neglect. NSCAW officials collected data by having in-person interviews with guardians, teachers, caseworkers, and the children who were the subjects of the
A child’s environment plays a big factor in mental and physical development into an adult. When buying a new house, we usually hope for convenient transportation, nice restaurants and many good schools for children. But there is not one good factor in Fenger High School. It’s located in the south side of Chicago which is one of the worst-off neighborhoods, due to its high poverty and crime rate. With these conditions, even though the school receives a huge budget from the state government, the students still didn’t do well in studying. They receive low test scores and have chronic discipline problems. Due to the school’s location, education couldn’t fix the problems so principal Dozier had to enforce strong policies in order to make the school a safer place. The Adverse Childhood Experience(ACE) study, introduced by Vincent Felitti and Robert Anda, who work for Kaiser Permanente, the scientists measured childhood trauma
Traumatic experience using ecological model “The core concept of an ecological model is that behavior has multiple levels of influences, often including intrapersonal (biological, psychological), interpersonal (social, cultural), organizational, community, physical environmental, and policy. Ecological models are believed to provide comprehensive frameworks for understanding the multiple and interacting determinants of health behaviors” ("Health Behavior and Health Education | Part Five, Chapter Twenty," n.d.). According to Briere and Jordan “abuse and neglect effects are multidetermined in etiology and multivariate in their ultimate presentation” ("Childhood Maltreatment, Intervening Variables, and Adult Psychological Difficulties in Women,"
of factors include divorce, separation, physical abuse, sexual abuse and having a parent with "a
Lynchburg Department of Job and Family Services has become overwhelmed with problems that involved domestic violence, child abuse, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse within families that have children. It is important to protect our children and we know how bad these offences can harm our youth today which is our future of tomorrow. Lynchburg Department of Job and Family Services decided to sit down and brainstorm; to come up with some kind of idea to protect the children in these families from any pain, harm, or damage that might come their way from the adult behavior. After carefully doing creativity thinking, we came up with a policy to help prevent the young children from the social learning theory. Social learning theory is “the view that people learn to be aggressive by observing others acting aggressively to achieve some goal or being rewarded for violent acts”. (Siegel, 2011). Social learning theory implies that if a child witnesses a mother or father being abused, then the child will grow up to be abusive or allow someone to abuse them. If a child witnesses a parent drinking alcohol or using drugs, than the child could grow up to use drugs or become an alcoholic. The new policy that Lynchburg Department of Job and Family Services has put in place is that if a parent, guardian, or caretaker of any child under the age of 18 is charged with an offense of domestic violence, child abuse, drug, or alcohol, the child or children will be removed from the home as soon as possible and placed in a foster care. In order for the parent, guardian, or caretaker to gain custody of the child back they must first complete a secondary prevention program related to their crime. A secondary prevention program is “programs that provide treatment, ...
People need to be more informed about different forms of violence and abuse problems in society in order to know when to report unacceptable behavior. Too often things are unreported or undetected due to people being unaware on what to do leaving children in an inadequate situation. Several key people in communities like teachers, physicians, dentists, hospitals, or daycares are mandated reporters where they are obligated to observe the well-being of each child and report misbehavior if necessary. Recently, there has been a jump in violent behavior reports due to changes in legislation and a shift in attitudes of the general public on the harmful effects of children (Lavergne et al., 2011). Child Protective Services can step in to provide different resources or help groups to help the family to get back on their feet. Some of the services are shelter services, counseling, family violence centers, and temporary emergency care. The temporary emergency center like the Children’s Haven is a safe neutral location for children to go while families are experiencing crisis. Law enforcement can decide to place children from violence or substance abuse situations in a neutral setting until a foster care has enough openings for every child to be placed together. Temporary emergency centers can also provide support for parents undergoing traumatic situations for instance if a mother is trying
Child maltreatment is a widespread issue that affects thousands of children every year. There are four common types of child maltreatment; sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. All of these types of abuse are very serious and can have many consequences for the children and families. The most common consequence of severe child maltreatment is the removal of that child from their home (Benbenishty, Segev, Surkis, and Elias, 2002). Most social workers trying to determine the likelihood of removal evaluate the type and severity of abuse, as well as the child’s relationship with their parents (Benbenishty et al., 2002). When children are removed from their homes there are many options of alternative housing. The places they are allowed to live are a relative’s home, foster home, or a group home. In a study of children removed from their homes, 68% went to a foster home rather than a relative or another form of alternative housing (Faller, 1991). Reunification with a parent is the most common goal that is set forth by Child Protective Services even though recurrent abuse is likely to happen based upon the prior type of abuse and the age of the child (Connell et al., 2009). Child maltreatment is becoming a prevalent problem that has numerous consequences for both the child and family.
When the topic of abuse comes up, many different forms of abuse pop into individuals heads. Whether its Physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse or even drug abuse, the list just keeps going. Now take all those different forms abuse and imagine them happening in a family. A father physically abusing his children, a mother verbally berating her daughter about her body image, a child growing up in fear. According to the research by David Wolfe in the Journal of Consulting and clinical Psychology, that the number of children that have suffered a physical injury due to physical abuse is between 1.4 and 1.9 million annually. With such a high number of physical abuse happening to children, one can imagine how high the number of all the
intervention. Families in Society. Vol. 88, pg. 42. Proquest Direct database. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) (n.d.), the causes of child abuse are 1) poverty, 2) less education, 3) unemployment, 4) changes in address, 5) marital problems, 6) lack of support, and 7) isolation. These factors are not only individual problems, but also social problems. Also, factors are considered to be interrelated to each other. For instance, parents in poverty are at higher risk of abused their children because they are more likely to struggle with economic problems because of unemployment. They are less likely to have stable jobs because of lack of education.