The safety and welfare of children and youth is a Child and Youth Care practitioner’s primary concern. The Family Law Act and the Children, Family and Community Services Act are some of British Columbia’s legislations implemented to protect children while in care of their parents and the ministry. Although many of those key legislations’ use varying parameters to define a “child in need of protection”, they all consider that a child is in need of protection when in a situation of “physical and sexual abuse, parental neglect (including failure to provide needed medical treatment) and abandonment” (Bala, 2004, p. 18). While focusing on the Family Division of the Provincial Court of B.C., the elaboration of this paper is based on my observations made during a Court Hearing and from an interview with a counsel for the Ministry of Children and Youth Development. It explores my perspective on British Columbia’ child protection laws and legislations, and on the role of a Child and Youth Care practitioner in supporting and advocating for clients who undergoing these troublesome experiences.
A few weeks before attending a Court Hearing, I contacted Wendy Bernt, Counsel for the MCFS, to seek information about her profession as well as details about the Remands Courts that I would be attending. She is a partner at Pearlman Lindholm Barristers & Solicitors in Victoria. As a Director for the MCFS or member of the Director’s Counsel, her role is to ensure that the administrative, procedural fairness and practical applications of laws, such as the Child, Family and Community Services Act and the Family Law Act, are complied with while dealing with child and youth custody cases. A large part of her job focuses on putting information and facts ...
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...ly, observing and exploring the perspective of law in Child and Youth Care has helped me realize the vast number of people involved in protection and advocating for child en and youth. Although the regulations start from the Ministry of Children and Family Development and other legislations, the task can only be accomplished if the community works together to educate and support each other. Professionals, such as the Judge, Director’s Counsel, the Social Workers and the Child and Youth Care practitioners are at the base of the work. I believe that as a practitioner, along with advocating for children and youth rights, I will be at the front of social change and social justice. This will be done by joining forces with the MCFD and people like Wendy Brent, as well as understanding the various charters and legislations that become essential tools throughout my career.
When children are hurt physically, emotionally, or sexually it is known to be child abuse. Children are known to be neglected when they are not getting the proper attention needed for children. When children are neglected or abused in any way it is the responsibility of others to report such acts to the authorities as to what they have witnessed first-hand or signs of abuse or neglect seen after the fact, these people who reports such acts are known as third parties. The proper authorities to report child abuse or neglect is called Child Protected Services also known as Child Welfare. After the abuse or neglect is reported the proper authorities will then investigate to see if the abuse or neglect is legit or fraudulent (Sedlak, 2001).
“The Signs of Safety approach is a relationship-grounded, safety-organized child protection framework designed to help families build real safety for children by allowing those families to demonstrate their strengths as protection over time. This strengths-based and safety-organized approach to child protection work requires partnership and collaboration with the child and family. It expands the investigation of risk to encompass strengths and signs of safety that can be built upon to stabilize and strengthen the child’s and family’s situation. Central to this approach is meaningful family engagement and, in particular, capturing the voice of the child” (http://www.cebc4cw.org/program/signs-of-safety/detailed). Because this approach proposes a framework for child welfare it offers broad applicability to the areas of juvenile justice, foster care and adoption. If one looks at the principles of this approach across all child welfare settings it is evident that they can be used as a map for assessing and planning, building constructive relationships, and improving communication.
First of all, it is necessary to be familiarized with the code of ethics and values to guide one’s practice and give guidance for decision-making. While the textbook does not mention laws specific to BC, it gives a good overview on the baseline of what social workers follow across the country. From what I have found, the relevant legislation is the Child, Family, and Community Service Act. First of all, the first relevant legislation is the duty to report, which was relevant to Raisa’s childcare worker and the neighbour. After, child protection workers are required to respond to child abuse immediately with a family based investigation to ensure the safety of the child and the parent’s ability to protect the child from harm. Because child protection workers work in the best interest of the chid, the law says that action must be taken to protect them from danger with a standardized risk assessment. In the case of Raisa, her protection must come first, preferably by maintaining the family home by reducing risk by removing Barry from the home or worse, by apprehending Raisa if her safety could not be
...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.
The use of the Children Act 2004 in day-to-day work with children and young people allows multi-disciplinary teams to shared information, which is used to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people known to one or more agencies. The interests of the child are paramount. In the setting, a specifically trained member of staff will be appointed to supervise safeguarding and child protection.
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
During the court case the judge said that lead social worker Gunn Wahlstrom was “naïve beyond belief”. This report brought over 68 recommendations to make sure cases like this did not happen again. The recommendations included putting the child first and the parent’s second. “Jasmines’ fate illustrates all too clearly the disastrous consequences of the misguides attitude of the social workers having treated Morris Beckford and Beverley Lorrington as the clients first and foremost” (London Borough of Brent, 1985,p295). The social workers in Jasmine’s c...
In a child protection work, formal knowledge is not only an understanding of the law, official regulations, and ways of practice, but also a theoretical view of 'child development, family dynamics and methods of intervention' (Munro, 20...
Working Together to Safeguard Children, March 2015: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
I attended the Circuit Court at 140 Blountville Bypass Blountville, TN on April 24th, 2014. I sat in on Judge Robert Montgomery’s court. Judge Montgomery started court promptly at 9:00 a.m. After going through the metal detectors, I asked the officer working the metal dictator if I could ask to sit in on a criminal court that was going on that morning. He then directed me to the printed docket on the table in the waiting area. The docket is the official schedule of proceedings in lawsuits pending in a court of law. Courtroom 1 had seven pages of cases ranging from violations of probation to rape of a child and Courtroom 2 had one jury trial case of a vehicular homicide that finished the day before. I walked into the administration office and asked if I could get a copy of the docket for when I sit in on court that day for my Legal Process class. I waited until the bailiff called everyone in, and I went in as well and took a seat in the front row in the middle next to another classmate. After waiting a few minutes the bailiff tells everyone to rise while Judge Robert Montgomery entered the courtroom to begin the proceedings.
Throughout this essay, the health, safety and welfare policy and practise that came about after the Victoria Climbie case will be reviewed and evaluated. After arriving in England in November 1991 from the Ivory Coast, eight-year old Victoria Climbie suffered abuse from her great-aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, and her great-aunts partner. The anguish and eventual murder of Victoria in 2000 from hypothermia, caused by malnourishment and damp conditions, provoked ‘the most extensive investigation into the child protection system in British history’ as described by Batty (Macleod-Brudenell, 2004). The high media profiled incident exposed a clear lack of precision and communication between all professionals and agencies involved. This is shown by the fact that the mistreatment Victoria was suffering had gone unnoticed by the social services, police and NHS staff, who failed to make each other aware of the clear danger signs. Within the Lord Laming Inquiry into Victoria Climbie’s death (2003), it can be seen that some features recur time after time in child abuse cases; inadequate resources to meet demands, inexperience and lack of skill of individual social workers. In addition, it can also be seen that crucial procedures were evidently not being followed. The procedure that was established after this case included the recommendations made by Lord Laming such as the Green Paper of Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003) and the Children Act (DfES, 2004). These ensure that all children have the fundamental right to be protected from harm and abuse. In addition to this, it also certifies all adults who come into contact with children and families have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Child abuse and neglect are “social” issues that were addressed by the author. While children are in foster care, they may become victims of maltreatment: child neglect, child emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The terms neglect refers to when parents fail to provide a child’s basic needs and provide satisfactory level of care (Downs, Moore and McFadden, 2009). An example of a child being neglected is when parents or c...
This question becomes more imperative when considering the increase in frequency of children involved with the legal system. According to Statistics Canada, from 2004-2009, family violence allegedly victimized 18, 710 children under the age of 17 (Sinha, 2012). In the same article, children were also reported to have witnessed an increased amount of spousal violence in their homes, such that the proportion of spousal victims with children increased from 43 percent to 52 percent. Sinha (2012) also stated that out of the reported victims of spousal violence in 2009, 39 percent would involve officials in the matter due to the presence of a child witness versus 10 percent of victims with no child witness. These statistics alone account...
Through all of the hurdles, the government still tries to provide some assistance and keep this issue in the forefront so others can pitch in to help. The protection and care of kids should initially come from the parents, however as other demons are battled it prevents children from experiencing the love, care, and concern of a family. Until funding, assistance for parents, assistance for kids who have aged out, and foster care programs can be corrected, the government will be aiding in detrimental child outcomes. Family may represent the love and security in a child’s life, but it can also be a prison in which physically, emotionally, and sexually kids may feel punished (Causes and Effects). The government protection can only go as far as the law allows.
Social workers are legally obligated to assess and support the 397,600 children in need and their families as they are one of society’s most vulnerable groups (DfE, 2014). The social worker’s role and responsibility is to ensure children’s additional needs are adequately met to try to reverse disadvantage and enable children to maximise their lives and potential. To achieve this objective, social workers sift through in-depth information in different areas of family life, both past and present, as the vast majority of issues affecting children evolve from external factors which particularly relate to parenting. Gathering data involves collaborating with the family and relevant professionals to understand the family’s plight and establish strengths which are built upon so future troubles are positively resolved independently.