Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act - Essay Example

Social Policy Analysis Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of Institute Policy Analysis I Child AbusePrevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) In today’s world, every human being is in a struggle for survival. One is faced with infinite number of challenges throughout the span of life and dealing with them on day to day basis is not always easy. In the world of today where people are increasingly engrossed in trying to make ends meet it becomes hard for them to sometimes cope with the increasing burden of challenges that keep piling up day in and day out. This in turn goes on to increase the need for working collectively to strive for the mutual good. One way of attempting just that is the efforts put into numerous social welfare reforms. One such reform that is going to be discussed in this paper is the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). Social Problem Child Abuse is an issue that is spreading around like a contagion. Though there have been numerous efforts to curb this issue, but the facts revealed from a number of studies show that it is continuously on the rise and is also intensifying with the passage of time (Gil, 1973). Such studies give a disturbing insight into the alarming amount of impact that it is having by plaguing societies. Specifically shedding light on the issue at grass root level, child abuse can be defined as any act that threatens to be harmful to the health and/or welfare of a child. A child, in such a case, generally refers to persons under the age of 18 that are under parental care or in the care of a guardian (Stoltzfus, 2009). The abuse on the other hand in case of child abuse can be anything on part of the parent or caretaker that leads to any sort of emotional or physical harm to the child; or any sort of exploitation or sexual abuse. It even constitutes the domain of neglect on part of the parent/guardian in terms of failure to act that leads to any sort of harm to the child (McClennen, 2010). In overall terms, child abuse or maltreatment can generally be categorized in following terms: Neglect which refers to the failure in providing to the basic physical, medical, emotional and educational needs of the child. Physical Abuse that refers to the child getting harmed or hurt physically ranging from bruises to fractures or death. Sexual Abuse that includes sexual exploitation of children or even simulation of such conduct in terms of getting them engaged in or even assisting in any sort of sexual activity. Emotional Abuse includes any sort of mental, psychological or verbal abuse or maltreatment imposed on a child that deteriorates the child’s self worth or emotional development (Yes ICAN). Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act is a legislation incepted in 1974 in United States pursuing to ensure child protection. It has been reviewed and reformed six times since its inception in efforts to further refine and expand its scope of operations (US Dept of Health and Human Services, 2003). The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act has been crafted in view of various studies that show that there are over a 1000,000 children in America that suffer from abuse and neglect every year, which in turn leave marks due to which they suffer throughout their lives. Most of these children never even receive any sort of treatment or protection from such mishandling. It was only when the enormity of the situation got serious that the government realized the need to intervene itself to improve the conditions. It identified that child abuse is an issue that needs a comprehensive approach to deal with by all education, social and health service organizations as it poses a serious threat to the future of thousands of children and is something that needs attention at neighbourhood level by the introduction of proper investigation, assessment, treatment and prevention procedures (US Dept of Health and Human Services). Goal The overall view of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act shows that it constitutes the following goals: The Act attempts to promote coordinated planning to deal with this issue at government level. It also aims to generate and share knowledge to increase awareness of this issue in order to better assist in child and family protection measures. It has been reformed time and again to better assist in the betterment of communities at large and it also drafts the allocation of financial resources so as to better implement the community plans. The Act also aims to assist in the successful execution of child and family protection plans through professional, semi professional and volunteer resources and also to promote leadership to help curb the factors of abuse and neglect having deterring effects on the youth of the country (US Dept of Health and Human Services). This legislation though very ambitious to work for the good of the community is however a little ambiguous when it comes to dealing with the issue of child abuse at grass root level. It fails to define the procedure of how it would get to and help prevent and protect a child from maltreatment that is living in the lowest level of suburbs in the country. Child abuse is an issue that is very sensitive, the realization for the attention to which has been around for quite some time now. The primary hindrance to the successful execution of such legislation is the fact that it is an issue that is usually hushed down and is hard to come out with by the victims. The legislation though identifying the enormity of the situation still does not make clear how it is to overcome these barriers and community level. Though according to the CAPTA all the persons in the helping professions (medical, education, social services etc.) are entitled to file a report to the state in knowledge of any sort of abuse or neglect on children. But, there is still a possibility that many such professionals would rather prefer not to get involved in these things and/or they might be reluctant to report to the state. Policies, Public Laws & Administration Rules and their Consequences The CAPTA currently authorizes four types of grants including the State Grants, Discretionary Activities, Community Based Grants and the Children’s Justice Act Grants. These have proven to be quite effective in boosting the awareness of the child abuse ailment and have been able to provide funding to the activities for the cause of child abuse prevention on various levels and tiers of the states. The CAPTA has defined a procedure in which the state is to receive the allegations of suspected child abuse activities for which it primarily relies on the human service side of sectors to report anything related to the topic that comes to their knowledge. This can be seen to be a vague area as it does not provide any fool proof procedure to identify the victims. The reported allegations after having been received are then screened out in terms of their seriousness and legitimacy, after which the investigation follows. The purpose of the investigation in such cases is to identify and give a determination of the safety concern of a child. The CPS structure of identifying the correct reported cases however is subject to some criticism as it has a tendency to receive over-reporting of abuse as it relies only heavily on the word of mouth. This has remained as issue due to the discrepancy of opinions in defining the terms such as ‘neglect’ and ‘abuse’ and by the vagueness with which the laws have been drafted that leave them very open ended. Cases received in such alight can also lead to issues regarding the family preservation side of picture (Krason, 2007). The open ended definitions of allegations in the Act also imposes a responsibility on almost all the service sector professionals catering to the human care to explicitly report any sort of maltreatment over a variety of conditions and to also verify and make judgements whether the conditions to be reported come under abuse or neglect. From an ordinary professional’s perspective this presents a very vague picture in terms of what should or should not be reported, exclusive of the extreme cases. It is this very factor of ambiguity that makes people reluctant to file complaints. People on the other hand also have concerns about confidentiality and hence, hesitate to report any or to get involved. Then there is also a difference of opinions for example what one person might consider abusive behaviour on child on part of parents might be considered as a necessary disciplinary action to be taken by some other person (Ammerman & Hersen, 1990). The number of reported cases for child abuse has increased drastically over the last decade. On the other hand, it has dropped the probability of reports getting actually confirmed for suspected cases. This goes on to show that false reporting is a major issue and is something that is being exploited. Then even if a case gets verified for abuse or neglect on part of parents and gets to the level of investigation, even then the investigators have no fool proof way to get to the grass root level of the chain of events that preceded the actual event. In such a case, the investigation is then relying solely on the accounts of the child or the parents if there are no witnesses due to which the team might not be able to attain full disclosure from their part (Sowers et al, 2008). Even if the suspected case is confirmed, the process of gathering concrete proof of the abuse becomes a very complex process. For this process the investigation has to be carried out on a number of frontiers (relatives, family, neighbours, school, psychological and physical consultants etc.) and the information has to be greatly manipulated to reach a final decision. The reason for such manipulation can again be stated as the ambiguity of procedures and the sensitivity of such issues (Stein, 1984). Conclusion Child abuse is a serious plague in societies that can be detrimental to the whole life of the victims. It is as serious a topic as it is sensitive and can be said to be an issue that when defined can even sink to border line definitions. Though the complexity rendered to defining such issues might be characterized by their sensitivity, any attempts to actually work for the betterment of its scenario is very significant. Although CAPTA can be said to have its pros and cons but one thing that it is doing quite effectively is increasing awareness of such issues. And when it comes to issues such as child abuse, awareness itself is the first step towards prevention and betterment. References Ammermen, R. T. & Hersen, M. (1990). Children at Risk. NY: Plenum Press. Gil, D. J. (1973). Violence against Children- Physical Child Abuse in the United States. National Criminal justice Reference Service. US: Harvard University Press. Krason, S. F. (2007). The Critics of Current Child Abuse Laws and the Child Protective System. The Catholic Social Science Review. 12, 307,350. Mclennen, J. (2010). Social Work and Family Violence. NY: Springer Publishing Company. Sowers, K. M., Colby, I. C. & Dulmus, C. N. (2008). Comprehensive Handbook of Social Work and Social Welfare. US: John Wiley & Sons. Stein, T. J. (1984). The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. Chicago Journals. 58(2), 302-314. The University of Chicago Press. Stoltzfus, E. (2009). The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: Background, Programs and Funding. Congressional Research Service. Retreived 4 Oct 2011 from http://www.napcwa.org/Legislative/docs/CAPTACongressionalResearchReport.pdf US Dept of Health and human Sources. (2003). Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. Retrieved 4 Oct 2011 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=233599 US Department of Health and Human Services. Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. Retrieved 4 Oct 2011 from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/laws_policies/cblaws/capta/ Yes ICAN. (2009). Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). Retrieved 4 Oct 2011 from http://www.yesican.org/definitions/CAPTA.html Read More