The Psychology behind Keeping or Losing Parental Rights

In 1997, the Adoption and Safe Families Act was passed to specifically address the health and welfare of foster children. It established strict time lines for children to be returned to their parents, or terminate parental rights so children could be adopted. In cases of sexual and chronic physical abuse, the ASFA authorized states to dispense with efforts to reunify the family and move directly to termination of parental rights (Myers, 2006, p. 102). In summary, the many advances in the child welfare protections suggest an evolving recognition of the special protections that children need and require. “From the colonial period well into the 19th century, childhood was not considered a special phase of human development. For the most part, children were considered to be more or less alike, essentially miniature adults who were inherently aggressive and sinful, and hence prone to all sorts of vices, including idleness. Therefore they required close supervision and stern treatment so that they would grow up to lead industrious, upright, godly lives” (Trattner, 1999, p. 110). Indeed, it was not until the theories of John Locke, Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson emerged, that these views changed, based on the notion of people being inherently pure and good (at least at birth). The ideas of Charles Darwin introduced the notions of nature and nurture, and the work of Sigmund Freud further detailed the different psychology of children (Trattner, 2006, pp. 110-112). The steady if somewhat slow progress of the child welfare movement has greatly benefitted our society, but despite the progress from the antiquated views captioned above, there is wide agreement that the protection of children will always be a work in progress, which ...

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...tistics suggest a problem of epidemic proportions - a child abuse report is made every 10 seconds, five children die each day from abuse with 80% of them being under the age of four, and 76% of child fatalities are caused by abuse from a parent or guardian (USDHHS, 2009). Also, as one might expect, poverty, illness, substance abuse, and other stressors within the house generally increase the likelihood of abuse (Goldman et al., 2003). Further, the lack of social involvement may lead to the absence of a support system that deprives the parent of valuable coping mechanisms to handle stress. Other factors include the types of family that may increase the vulnerability to abuse – including the single parent home, or families that are experiencing spousal abuse, both of which reflect higher rates of child abuse than families without these problems (Goldman et al., 2003).