Child Welfare in NYC - Essay Example

Child Welfare of Child Welfare Children are exposed to various challenges and dangers that have the potential of compromising their welfare both in the short and long run. It is therefore necessary that policies and services be in place to safeguard their welfare, hence child welfare system. The government of the United States have various services that aim at promoting child welfare. Child Welfare Information Gateway (2011) defines child welfare system as a group of services that are designed to enhance children’s well- being by achieving permanency, strengthening families to facilitate their children care, and ensuring safety. Essentially, child welfare’s aim is to protect children and encourage stability in families. Services designed in child welfare include adoption services, supporting of at- risk families to ensure their stability, and foster care among others. The attention of the child welfare is drawn to the following situations among children often referred as child abuse; neglect, psychological abuse, child sexual abuse, and physical abuse Child Welfare Information Gateway (2011). Even though the main responsibility for child welfare services lies with the States, Federal Government have a crucial role in supporting the delivery of services by the States through legislative initiatives and funding of programs Child Welfare Information Gateway (2011). The Ultimate goal of child is to ensure that there is child continuity of relationships under the care caretakers and parents. Indeed, all the roads in child welfare must lead to permanency for the involved child. However, many structural, policy and practice issues often interfere with achieving this goal in a timely and effective manner. This discussion will focus on adoption as an area of child welfare primarily in New York City (NYC) and critically examine its impacts or how it has impacted the permanency agenda. Thereafter, recommendations will be made on how to address the identified obstacles to permanency in regard to adoption. Permanency The ultimate goal of child welfare is permanency for the child involved. In child welfare, permanency is defined as nurturing and legally permanent family for every child (Maluccio, Fein, Olmstead, 1986). The concept of permanency in child welfare is based on specific values such as significance of parent- child attachment, importance of biological families, and the primacy of family. According to Maluccio, Fein and Olmstead (1986), permanency is achieved and maintained through permanent placements with relatives, adoption from foster care, family reunification, and guardianship. The concept of permanency in child welfare in the United States is based on the research that shows that children grow up best in stable and nurturing families (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2011). These families have legal status; that is, parents have legal responsibility and right to protect the welfare and interests of their children. In addition, these families have members, whose fates are intertwined, meaning they share a common future. Also, they offer continuity and commitment in the sense that they survive the challenges of life intact. However, it is worth noting that permanency is not guaranteed in families, not even biological families. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2011) explains that permanency conveys intent; therefore, families that express legally or through other ways their intent to remain together are important to the wellbeing of children and their ability to grow up happy and healthy. Maluccio, Fein and Olmstead (1986) explains that permanency planning is a critical process in permanency that facilitates carrying out a set of goal- directed activities within a given period of time designed to help children attain permanency. The goal of the process is to provide child continuity with caretakers or nurturing parents hence establishing lifetime family relationships. The history of permanency in the U.S dates back to 1950 when its importance was recognized and entrenched in the child welfare services. Various researches and demonstration programs contributed greatly to the development of the permanency concept in the U.S child welfare. They culminated to Adoption Assistance and Child Adoption Act of 1980 whose core elements were prevention of foster care placement, planning, family involvement, permanency, and assessment. The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 further strengthened these elements (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011). Adoption Adoption is one of the child welfare services that aim at achieving permanency, strengthening families to facilitate their children care, and ensuring safety. Just like other child welfare services, adoption has impacts on the permanency agenda. Therefore, it is important to understand adoption in relation to child welfare. The Centre for Adoption Support and Education (2009) defines adoption as a process through which a particular person or couple assumes the parenting for another and by doing so, all responsibilities and rights are transferred to adopting parent(s) from the original parent(s). Adoption is aimed at effecting permanent change in status of the adopted child and it therefore needs societal recognition through religious or legal sanction (The Centre for Adoption Support and Education, 2009). It is important to point out that adoption is the legal, emotional, and social process whereby the adopted child becomes permanent and legal member of another family while still maintaining psychological and genetic connections to his or her original family. Unlike other systems of child welfare such as guardianship, permanency is achieved more in the sense of its definition and application through adoption. Adoption in New York City is regulated by the NYC Children’s Services; it is the City’s child welfare agency that is mandated with the responsibility to protect children and strengthen families with ultimate goal of achieving permanency (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2011). According to the NYC Children’s Services, currently, the City has about 16,000 children who are under foster care. Permanency Issues In as much as permanency is the ultimate goal of child welfare, there is numerous structural, policies, and practice issues that often interfere with achieving this goal in a timely and effective manner. Maluccio, Fein, and Olmstead (1986) state that there are four major permanency issues. One is a permanent home; foster parents should work towards providing a stable home where a child can grow. They need to recognize the important nature of honour and bonding that original attachment to the original parents has. They also need to understand what problems led to removal of the child from the original home and seek to prevent such occurrences in the future. Also, they should prepare the return of the child to the birth family, and subsequently monitor the progress or lack of progress toward reunification. The second permanency issue is searching for permanence; it is important that the complaint of neglect or abuse be investigated immediately. If the complaint is substantiated, the following four choices suffice; offering of in- home support, reunification is the second option if a child must be removed, consideration of kin care, and maintaining the birth home to ensure bonding is preserved (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011). The third permanency issue is the pseudo- permanency plans; identification of permanency plans is the priority but often temporary choice should also be made such as identification of kin. However, the state should aim at finding permanent homes for every child, because trying to solve problems with pseudo- permanency plans and euphemisms may not solve the problem amicably and will thus not achieve its intended purpose. Contingency planning is another permanency issue; it calls for back up in permanency planning. According to Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), contingency plan should be built from the time a child is placed outside the home. Reunification is the primary goal when the child is removed for neglect, healing, or abuse. However, if reunification fails there should be an alternative permanency plan in place. ASFA provides three possible contingency plans namely kin care, permanent legal guardianship, and adoption. Maluccio, Fein and Olmstead (1986) argue that a good contingency plan should be specific and should identify the alternative choice. In the light of the aforementioned permanency issues, social workers are likely to face a number of ethical dilemmas. Social workers may find it difficult to coordinate the process of finding permanent home for children because they may be accused of interfering with the privacy and rights of other people, particularly the foster parents. Also, confidentiality dilemma may arise when they are searching for permanence because they may be forced to reveal some of confidential information regarding a particular child and the circumstances surrounding the need for search of permanence (Maluccio, Fein and Olmstead, 1986). Besides, failure to get true permanent solutions to children hence resorting to pseudo- permanency plans may compromise the ethics of social worker because pseudo- permanency plans may only serve to worsen the situation of the child. Recommendations Despite the fact that permanency being the most critical aspect in child welfare, there are several obstacles especially in regard to adoption. Therefore, the following recommendations are made in a bid to address these obstacles; one, all permanency plans should be in such a manner that it promotes the reunification process even though the legal rights and responsibility will have been transferred to a different parent. Two, adoption as a child welfare service should adhere to all legal and social requirements and take into consideration all the issues that arise in the process. Summary It is evidently clear that child welfare is important in enhancing children’s well- being by achieving permanency, strengthening families to facilitate their children care, and ensuring safety. Adoption is one of the best child welfare systems that seek to enhance permanency which is at the core of child welfare. Therefore, all legal requirements and ethical issues should be considered and addressed in order to ensure that adoption has achieved its ultimate goal and that of child welfare. References Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2011). How the child welfare system works. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. Retrieved from www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/ Maluccio, A., Fein, E., & Olmstead, K. (1986). Permanency planning for children: Concepts and methods. New York, NY: Tavistock Publications. The Centre for Adoption Support and Education. (2009). Core Issues in Adoption. Retrieved from http://www.adoptionsupport.org/res/indexcorea.php U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2011). Concept and History of Permanency in U.S. Child Welfare. Retrieved from http://www.childwelfare.gov/permanency/overview/history.cfm Read More