Social workers on a daily basis deal with many problems, recognition and reporting suspected child abuse investigation is a very important step in preventing child abuse. As a part of our job we must interview the children during the investigations as a witness because they are themselves the victim of the sexual abuse. My first obstacle on this paper is interviewing the young children in sexual abuse cases and I have a fair amount of concern about whether interviewing the children during the investigations in sexual abuse cases can be traumatize the child abuse victim. We all know that interviewing parents about the suspected child abuse can be very intimidating for adults. Think about the three-year-old and having to go into an interview …show more content…
If it is not truly necessary, I think that it is very troubling for any family to ever put their kids in this sort of hard position. I know that these cases are not easy to resolve, however, I believe that using the child witnesses for such purposes is not always right and might hurt the children. I believe that the children do not belong to this hard position. I believe that there should be an alternative solution for this. When is a young child victim of sexual abuse, instead of interviewing young children, the parents can utilize the mediation which permits parents to place the children first and not place them inside the role of having to be interviewed. I believe that children should be giving an opportunity to have a support system to help facilitate communication for the best interests of the children. If a child has no other choice other than to be present for an interview, this could be done as quick as possible at least without hurting the …show more content…
In my opinion, Social Workers need to take every necessary steps to protect children’s best interest. I think I need to constantly reminding myself how important is to speak to a child about the suspected child abuse, if necessary, how important and critical to conduct an interview session and prepare myself for the worse scenarios. In addition, I may suggest to the parents that have the child examined by the child's primary care physician or psychologist and discuss the necessary steps to take to prepare for an interview. In addition, I would refer the parents to the Children’s Advocacy Center whom they can refer to the sum of the organizations with a skilled worker who can accompany victims of sexual abuse and when a young child has to
It has been suggested that children who are victims of sexual abuse also become abusers themselves. Children of abuse have a higher probability of becoming a future abuser. Child abuse is characterized as any act that jeopardizes or impairs a child’s physical or emotional health and growth. These acts include any harm done to a child who cannot be rationally explained and is often characterized by an injury or series of injuries seeming to be non-accidental in nature. The behaviors of child abuse can happen in both boys and girls leaving them with severe lifetime symptoms. Treatment is often necessary for them to overcome the actions done to them, but it is not always successful in curing the mutilation. However, the existence of one sign of child maltreatment does not mean child abuse is occurring within a home. Even with proper education, therapy, and validation one has the probability to become an abuser himself/herself.
More than 200,000 children may be involved in the legal system in any given year, and 13,000 of these children are preschool age. Often with these cases involving young children, issues arise concerning credibility, vulnerability, and memory retrieval. Studies have shown that preschool age children are quite capable of providing accurate testimony, but they are also more vulnerable to distorting this memory and testimony. Public and professional opinion about the credibility of children as witnesses in court cases has been sharply divided. On one side, it is contended that when children disclose details of a circumstance, they must be believed, no matter what techniques were used to obtain this disclosure. For example, if a child is asked whether or not he/she was abused, and to describe this incident, we must believe that child because children cannot possibly generate a false report of their own sexual victimization. The other side depicts children as being helpless sponges ...
The forensic interview process happens when children have been abused or witnessed a violent act. “Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children (a report can include multiple children) (National Child Abuse Statistics).” In the United States there are about four to seven children that die every day due to child abuse and neglect (National Child Abuse Statistics). There are many different processes to conduct the interview and a number of steps are followed so children can tell their story accurately. People conducting the interview are supposed to make the child feel comfortable in their environment so they can find out what events happened.
Every person that comes into contact with either children or adults in their everyday work has a duty to safeguard and raise concerns if abuse is suspected. According to Stretch & Whitehouse, (2010) there is a six stage process for safeguarding vulnerable adults if there is evidence of suspected or actual abuse; alert, referral, decision making, assessment, review & monitoring and recording. During this process there are of number of potential actions to take. Approaches to communication are essential when dealing with a vulnerable adult. If a service user chooses to disclose an allegation of abuse its essential to listen carefully to all details, show signs that you are interested, make notes of everything that was discussed, report the incident to the nominated safeguarding officer as soon as possible and most importantly praise the service user for choosing to disclose as it takes a great deal of courage to speak up. There are also a number of actions to avoid. You should never make a promise to keep a secret regarding abuse, you must ensure that the service user knows that any action that you take is to support them. Never ask any leading questions that could potentially jeopardize the litigation, try to avoid putting yourself in a position for
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,
This is what sparked the use of anatomical dolls in cases of sexual abuse with children. Multiple interviews with children and other witnesses with disabilities can also result in suggestive testimony. The first interviewer may have communicated suggestions to the child which are then repeated as truth in the subsequent testimony. In the past an investigation of child abuse might have the victim interviewed by a detective, a child protective services caseworker, a physician and a prosecutor. When the research indicated a problem with suggestive interviewing, a concern began to develop that the child was parroting to the later interviewers what they believed the prior interviewers desired to hear. This has led to the development of family advocacy centers where a child is interviewed a single time by a specialist and the information provided to appropriate
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).
Even though I am aware that there have been great strides forward, especially within the past decade, in the implementation of safer and more constructive methods, in regards to child interviewing practices, I am appalled at the gross negligence of our justice system, in their failure to protect children from the brutal onslaught of such damaging interrogation. Not only does it fail to safeguard a child’s health and well-fare, but it also proves counterproductive in the gathering of reliable testimony, and so therefore does not ultimately serve the constructs of justice, either.
Many people think that children do not lie. It is not that they lie, they just cannot remember what happened a year or two ago when they were much younger, perhaps only a year or two old. The truth is children do lie. “One study shows that twenty three percent of abuse allegations are false and there was insufficient information to determine the truth in another twenty four percent” (Slicker W.D., 1999, Child testimony ¶ 16). Fear is also a factor in children lying or not providing adequate information. Lepore (1991) says that studies show in most abuse cases the suspect will usually bribe the child or threaten them into secrecy. This causes the child to become afraid to tell the truth, and they will begin to deny what has happened or even worse not report the abuse at all. The way an interviewer phrases a question will influence a child.
Lyon, T. D., Scurich, N., Choi, K., Handmaker, S., & Blank, R. (2012). "how did you feel?": Increasing child sexual abuse witnesses' production of evaluative information. Law and Human Behavior, 36(5), 448-457.
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?
The interview I conducted took place in the courtyard of my complex in Smallville, with the interviewee and myself. For the purpose of his paper and to protect the adolescent privacy lets call her Regina. Regina is a fourteen-year-old adolescent female of Africa American descent. She is above average in height and carries a very shy and nonchalance deposition. She is a very attractive young lady and does above average work in her school setting. She appears to be a normal every day child with a lifetime of experiences awaiting her.
This paper outlines the consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA) based on the examination of results from multiple researches previously fulfilled concerning the psychological and physical impact of this crime, information of statistics, warning signs detected, victims’ performances, and emotional state. Sexual abuse causes severe trauma on child victims that will last for the course of their lives, therefore it is critical to identify and improve the therapeutic methods utilized to treat CSA survivors.
Child witnesses have provided a basis for controversy over the years in criminal justice. There are two main things that people worry about when it comes to having a child witness, one is the anxiety that is put on the child with regard to the traumatic experience and the other is dependability of the testimony. Child testimony has long been considered an important part of the case but what is to be done when there are questions regarding legal, ethical, and professional ways to interact with the children.
In the beginning of the semester, my ideas about child abuse and neglect were very plain and simple. I honestly really only took into consideration physical and sexual abuse because those are the types of abuse you really can see and it’s a clear sign of what is going on. I never really thought about all of the different types of abuse such as neglect, psychological, exploitation, verbal, abandonment, self-neglect, and fiduciary. People really need to become more educated on all the types of abuse for many reasons. First of all, they will know what they can all do to help prevent it from happening and they will know how to put an end to it. Also, they will be more aware of any red flags they may see and they will know what to do when they