History of Child Protective Services Abstract The purpose of this research paper was to examine the history of child protective services and the changes made to better help families and protect children. This research will Illustrate how efforts have been made to improve child protection. The research will Illustrate eras of child protection until today’s foster care regulations and benefits. Research also Indicates that child maltreatment continues to be a social Issue that needs addressed and Improved.
Introduction This paper explores the history of child protection services. Child protection merged In 1874 from the rescue of a beaten and neglected 9-year-old girl, Mary Ellen Wilson. This initiated the second era of child protection services. There are three eras of child protection that extends from colonial times to today’s foster care regulations and benefits. Children remain the most vulnerable members of society to be exploited both physically and mentally. Thousands of children in America are reported being abused and neglected every day.
In 2011, there were 676,569 children reported victims of child abuse and neglect In 51 states (Children’s Bureau). Historical Background Prior to 1875 Before organized child protection In 1875, many children went without protection. Although, children were never completely without protection, the system was deprived. In colonial times child protection rested on the English Poor Law of 1601. This system placed the poor as a public responsibility of the local townspeople. Poverty was considered a parental stress from social and environmental factors that contributed to child maltreatment.
Many children were orphaned, neglected, or abused when families were poor and help came from family, friends, neighbors, or the church. Almshouses were established in the sass’s for poor and abandoned children along with other institutions such as orphanages. According to Trainer, although these separate institutions were on the whole superior to the almshouses as places for child care and conditions among them varied, they too had many defects. A single roof could have as many as 2000 children. They became overcrowded and In 1790, South Carolina established the first Institution for children.
In 1642, Massachusetts passed a law In colonial times that gave magistrates the authority to remove children from parents. This law gave the right to remove children room parents who did not “train up” their children properly. Throughout this era, there were convictions of cruelty for the neglect and abuse of children. In 1810, a mother was prosecuted for murdering her newborn child. An Illinois father was convicted in 1869 for confining his blind son In a cellar in the cold winter. Many centre were rescued Trot anuses Ana neglect In tens era yet ten system must oh improved.
Rescue of Mary Ellen Wilson (1874) In New York in 1874, child protection emerged from the rescue of a 9-year old child, Mary Ellen Wilson, who was beaten and neglected. She was discovered by a hurt worker named Eat Wheeler who was asked to check on the family. Eat Wheeler went to question neighbors whom heard the little girl crying. She then knocked on the apartment of Mary and made her way in enough to see the little girl. Theta’s account for her was she was the size of a 5-year-old, but was actually 9. She went to the police and they told her she must have proof.
At the time, there were no laws for intervention inside a child’s home. Wheeler remained determined to help this little girl beaten and abused. She sought advice from the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty o Animals, Henry Berth. Animals were protected from physical abuse and children were not. The Society for Prevention for Cruelty to Children was founded in 1874; the same year Mary Ellen Willow’s case came to public attention and was removed from her abuse. This changed how the public would not only understand abuse of children, but society role in ending that abuse.
Historical Background from 1875 to 1962 Myers stated the news of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children spread and by 1922, 300 nongovernmental child protection societies were scattered across America. Many cities and rural areas stood still at little or no access to formal child-protective services. The Child Welfare League of America in 1920 worked with the American Humane Society along with other agencies to promote the child welfare program. “The best way to rescue a child is to rescue the family for the child” was the philosophy of Dry. Vincent De Francis from the American Humane society.
This idea transpired the beginning of the attempt to preserve the family whenever possible. This era additionally stressed the idea of temporary out-of-home care. Juvenile court was established in Chicago in 1899. In 1919, all states had Juvenile courts except for three states in which later fell in line. These courts concentrated on delinquent children and had Jurisdiction to intervene in cases of abuse and neglect. Non-governmental child protection was popping up all across the country. The juvenile court remains a big part of child protection that partakes a role in today’s society.
According to Scheme, by the sass’s and sass’s, the function once performed by the humane societies were taken over by a variety of public and voluntary organizations such as Juvenile courts, Juvenile protective associations, family welfare societies, and some newly founded governmental bodies. The growing acceptance by states, counties, and municipalities of the responsibility for child protection, although uneven, marked a new era in the child welfare movement. Efforts to protect children became part of the growing array of human services.
In 1935, the passage of the Social Security Act is when the federal government first ventured into child welfare. According to Scheme, this law established the Aid to Dependent Children program, which offered cash assistance to enable poor, single mothers to care for their children, rather than lose custody of them. The fund from ten canon services Program AT ten Social security Act mostly went to roster care payments. The system of child protection still required a lot of work. Historical Background from 1862 to the Present The sass’s brought about a new era of child protection and the interest in child abuse.
Medical Professionals became educated on child abuse that had remained silent and existed without training for all the years prior. According to Myers, this trend culminated in the 1962 publication of the blockbuster newarticle14 The Battered Child Syndrome by pediatrician Henry Kemp and his colleagues. He played a eating role in bringing child abuse to national attention during the sass’s and sass’s. Many physical injuries to children were inflicted by parents or caregivers. This remained a very important role to help our children of abuse and neglect and plays in today’s child protection.
Government still played little role in the protection of children until 1974, when child welfare was extended. In the sass’s social work services and social care provisions for children provided social services departments (Batty). In 1974 the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act passed laws requiring investigations by social workers and others to identify children needing protection. The Nation Center on Child Abuse and Neglect was founded and developed standards for receiving and responding to reports . Federal grants were given to states to assist them in child protection, but funds were limited.
At this time money was still going for foster care instead of preserving families. The number of child abuse grew between 1976 and 1993. The resources were Just not enough to support ongoing social services. The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 made efforts to reunite families to avoid removing children for he home. According to Dubos, ideally, children should remain in their own homes with appropriate family support services. The “permanency plan” began to take place to make efforts to reunite families or move toward termination of parental rights.
In 1993, an amendment to the Social Security Act Established the Family Preservation and Family Support Program that provided funds for vulnerable children and families. This time had a rising demand for resources for families. Today, our resources continue to produce and foster parents play an important role in today’s child protection. The protection of children is aimed at keeping the children safe. When placing a child out of the home, foster parents have a set of regulations along with benefits to help support the children.
We currently have recruitment and certification (R&C) staff to ensure appropriate homes for children in foster care. The R&C worker verifies age, citizenship, and the background of individuals willing to become foster families. They hold informational meetings and complete the FAA TRIES Intake Form and inform interested applicants when the next information meeting is scheduled (CHEFS Manual/ SOP 6). The health of he foster parent applicants and all members of the household are also evaluated for communicable or infectious diseases and medical ability to care for the child or children.
References and interviews are assessed for the foster parents and then the approval or denial process is outlined. Foster parents are also required training and certifications and must be willing to accept the types of children in out of home care. According to the CHEFS Manual, CHEFS provides for the diligent recruitment of potential roster Ana footplate Tamales Tanat rennet ten ethnic Ana racial Loveliest AT CNN learn Tort whom foster and adoptive homes are needed. These homes require skills beyond parenting of their own children. This is why resources resource are given to meet the individual child’s need in out of home care.
Benefits are also given to the foster parents, per diem rate, based on the needs of the children and training of the resource home. Clothing allowances are given based on the age of the child. The children receive Medicaid for all medical expenses and the R;C worker provides the resource home with the provider’s information. Special expenses can be reimbursed for things such as school supplies ($35), school pictures (1 time per year), airhead ($25), senior expenses ($650), along with other expenses discussed in the CHEFS sop manual (2013).
Conclusion Child protection has created vast improvement from colonial times until today. Society has progressed from having little or no child protection to developing more resources to assist families and children. Our child protection services of today saver’s lives and futures. There are still cases similar to that of Mary Ellen Wilson, however child protection has grown tremendously and is not a story of failure. Child Protective Services of today gives hope and progress for our children.
