Running head: CURRENT TOPICS IN SOCIAL WELFARE

Current Topics in Social Welfare: Assisting Vulnerable Children and Families Name of Student Name of Establishment

CURRENT TOPICS IN SOCIAL WELFARE Current Topics in Social Welfare: Assisting Vulnerable Children and Families

Nature of the Problem I am particularly concerned about child abuse in the US. The term child abuse can be interpreted in slightly different ways, all depending on what meaning is put into the word abuse. Generally, child abuse is any actions, whether deliberate or not, which cause a child to suffer from feelings of loneliness, shame, physical pain, stress, fear, humiliation, inferiority, etc. It is very important to understand that child abuse is not always intentional; it is often very subtle and unrealized, while leading to the same consequences as in more violent manifestations (Smith & Segal, 2012). It has been shown that abuse has more severe and prolonged consequences for a child when committed by a family member or other closely related adults in comparison to strangers (Hopper, 2012); abuse on the part of those whom a child loves and trusts is most painful because it undermines the very conception of love and trust in the childs vulnerable mind. Different sources provide different classifications and types of child abuse. In general, there are four types: emotional, physical, sexual abuse, and neglect. Emotional abuse involves putting a child in a stressful condition or exposing them to destructive emotions by verbal means. It does not always include yelling or shouting; insulting words need not be loud. Physical abuse is any actions which are physically aimed at the childs body for punishment, or simply as a result of violence. This latter type of abuse seldom causes serious injury to the body, while the mind is affected much more. Sexual abuse is any actions which force the child to participate in inappropriate sexual actions, usually without the complete realization of the nature of these actions. Sexual abuse not necessarily involves physical contact; non-physical forms of sexual abuse include demonstration of pornography, speaking on inappropriate intimate topics, etc. Neglect might seem to be the least severe type of child

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abuse, while it is not quite so. One of the main misconceptions is that physical abuse is much more damaging than neglect; while in reality neglect is just as damaging, and much less likely to be noticed and assisted (Smith & Segal, 2012). There is very often a vague merge between the types of abuse; one type mostly comes or is confused with another. For instance, Hopper indicates that, when it comes to the court, maltreatment cases are very often characterized as serious physical abuse even if they were restricted to mental or emotional injury (2012).

Scope of the Problem The figures indicating the scope of child abuse are highly conflicting, as different sources include different factors in their research. According to (USDHHS, 2007), in 2005 3.3 million children were exposed to abuse; nearly 1500 died as a result of it. The aforementioned statistics show that not only the violent cases of physical abuse cause death in children, but also (and mostly) the cases of neglect. (USDHHS, 2007) estimates that, in the US nearly 2500 children are determined as abused every day. However, we have to take into consideration that statistics do not always manifest the real situation, since the majority of children suffering from abuse the most never come to the attention of government authorities (Hopper, 2012). Nevertheless, most of the sources indicate that child abuse is one of the top social issues in the US, regardless of the figures being slightly (or considerably) different. Child abuse is often cause by and/or comes hand in hand with other social issues, such as poverty, substance abuse, etc (USDHHS, 2007). Obviously, such factors are linked to class and national issues, taking into consideration the general level of well-being in the country. Not surprisingly, most studies indicate that girls are at least 1.5 times more exposed to abuse than boys (Hopper, 2012), particularly to sexual abuse. The age of children is a factor as well

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for instance, over 75% of children who die as a result of abuse are younger than 4 years old, which can be explained by the fact that in 40% of these cases the child neglect is to blame (USDHHS, 2007).

Effects of the Problem on Children Most of the sources agree that child abuse, even in the least obvious manifestations, leads to long-term effects, which are very often life-long. If abused by the closest adults, a child often proves unable to trust people in the future and to successfully build relationships, both friendly, professional, and intimate. It has been shown that most of the psychological complexes adults have also stem from abuse in childhood. Severe cases of abuse cause a person to feel vulnerable, inferior, worthless; many people live with these feelings an entire life failing to get to the root of the problem and eliminate it. Child abuse therefore may lead to uncontrollable emotional outbursts, which can be in their turn applied to own children in future and may cause substance abuse (Smith & Segal, 2012). There is no need to prove that the consequences of child abuse are potentially dangerous to every single life domain: constant exposure to stress leads to mental and physical health problems; feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem prevent a person from receiving quality education and building a successful career, as well as from establishing relationships. However, some claim that people have become obsessed with child abuse and blame every single problem on it, denying being responsible (Hopper, 2012).

Why Should We Care? Every healthy society should be built on the principles of well-being, tolerance, and stability. It goes without saying that no society can be highly developed and happy if people in it constantly suffer from various social issues. It is a double-ended weapon: the state of the

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society in general depends on every single person, and to a great extent the well-being of separate individuals depends on the society. Child abuse is one of the most serious social issues, since its effects are long-term and generate further violence, health issues, substance abuse, poverty, etc. If we care about our country, we are all supposed be interested in assisting the families involved in child abuse. If we help locate and eliminate child abuse, we will substantially help to eliminate a lot of other social issues, even most considerable ones like violence, crime, and homicide.

Social Services that Respond to this Problem Child Protective Services (CPS) is one of the major social services dealing with child abuse and neglect in the US. This institution and its programs are especially designed to assist families in which children suffer from abuse and neglect, and its scope of work is restricted to this single field. The CPS locates child abuse, helps families to change attitude to their children and provides productive parental patterns, and also attempts to prevent further abuse in these families. The social workers of CPS directly interact with the families in question, helping them to solve their issues by providing professional support and linking them to other necessary services. One of the main CPS principles states that: Child Protective Services should collaborate and coordinate with law enforcement, medical providers, and educational personnel, while maintaining our unique roles and functions (Department of Human Resources). Both children and adults can contact a local representative of the CPS and ask for help. Every application is duly processed, and the abused children and their families are provided with constant support, whether or not the child can continue to stay safely at their homes. In cases of severe abuse, the child is taken to a foster placement for the time of the social program, and, if necessary, afterwards as well.

CURRENT TOPICS IN SOCIAL WELFARE References

Department of Human Resources. Child abuse and neglect: Child protective services. Retrieved from: http://www.dhr.state.md.us/cps/ Hopper, J., Ph.D. (2012). Child abuse: Statistics, research, and resources. Retrieved from: http://www.jimhopper.com/abstats/#faq Smith, M., M.A., and Segal, J., Ph.D. (2012). Child abuse and neglect: Recognizing and preventing child abuse. Retrieved from: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/child_abuse_ physical_ emotional_sexual_neglect.htm U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. (2007). Child maltreatment 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007.