Human Services for Child Welfare

Human Services/Child Welfare/Child Abuse/Neglect

• Loretta McKelvey

Abstract

Human Services has several departments which are doing different functions. One department that has become a needed department would be child welfare. The following will help explain why it is needed. It will also be talking about the Human Services history and systems. Human Services has several department which are doing different things. One department that has become a needed department would be child welfare. The following will help explain why it is needed. Child welfare has been more involved with today’s society because of child abuse/child neglect is going on and being heard of more today than it was in the past of Human Services fields. Human services has evolved into a network of programs and agencies that provide an array of services to millions of Americans (Burger, 2014, p. 2). Primary social supports such as family, and friends, also play role in meeting human needs, and that role will be examined (Burger, 2014, p. 2). Early approaches to human services were centered on the hazards of illness, disability, and economic dependence. Programs were designed to help people who were unable to take care of their own needs. It was recognized that people with little or no income increasingly complex industrial societies were at risk of starvation or serious distress (Burger, 2014, p. 7).

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Human service background

Colonial American times, it had been a commonly held belief that individuals should assist others in need by providing appropriate care and services. Early settlers from European countries to the American colonies believed caring for others to be a personal responsibility rather than a public duty the practice of charity has been a part of life since the first settlers. The laws and traditions prominent in England at the time were often adopted in early American communities (Norris-Tirrell, 2014).The statute sanctioned use of private monies for the benefit of the public good. Early American colonists incorporated these values as they shaped the roles of government, business and community (Norris-Tirrell, 2014).

According to Norris-Tirrell “the population of the United States expanded, human service needs increased and changed role expectations for nonprofits. The impacts of disease, war, economic swings, and natural disasters were fertile ground for the creation of organizations such as the Ladies Aid Societies and the American Red Cross “(Norris-Tirrell, 2014). During the era of industrialization that followed the Civil War, voluntary organizations served many different functions including teaching vocation skills and advocating for reform (Norris-Tirrell, 2014). The latter resulted in the establishment of child labor laws and the creation of a juvenile justice system (Shields & Rangarajan, 2011). In the late 1880s, Americans including Jane Addams advanced the settlement house model as a strategy for addressing urban poverty. This new movement embraced the progressive philosophy of the time emphasizing the importance of social science knowledge, compassion and expertise in creating solutions to social problems (Hall, 2010).

After the American Revolution, the United States adopted laws based on the British Elizabethan “poor laws” to help people who could not economically provide for themselves (Van Slyke, 2002). Benjamin Franklin founded the first hospital for the care of persons with mental illness and devised a model of care that was practiced in hospital settings at the time (Van Slyke, 2002). Through the cooperative effort of community members, policy makers, and professionals from the medical field, this new model of care that arose during the “Moral Movement” was conceptually grounded in the belief that it was the responsibility of the general public to care for those in need (Van Slyke, 2002). The underpinnings of the Moral Movement therefore provided the framework for the establishment of the first mental health movement in America (Van Slyke, 2002).

The Kennedy and Johnson Administrations followed with additional policies favorable for contracting out including The Public Assistance Amendments of 1962 and 1967 and The

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (Van Slyke, 2002). Human services were prime candidates for privatization since existing nonprofit agencies held the necessary content expertise, thus “building on historical precedent to remove government from providing services that nongovernmental organizations already or can potentially provide” (Van Slyke, 2007, p. 159,)

One agency of Department of Human Services is the Child welfare office that handles and deals with family and the charge of child abuse or neglect. The following will be discussing about Child Welfare and child abuse /neglect.

Child welfare

In the late 1930s, the network of child welfare professionals located in private agencies, public departments, advocacy organizations, and the U.S. Children’s Bureau, had grown optimistic that federal New Deal programs— such as Aid to Dependent Children (ADC), survivor’s insurance, and unemployment insurance—would eliminate (or at least sharply reduce) the role poverty played in separating children (like those of Morris, Collins, and Lane) from their families. Although these professionals did not always speak with one voice on all matters, they developed a general consensus around a number of issues (Rymph, 2012). Child welfare reformers believed that the 1935 Social Security Act would be a godsend for children in general, keeping families together and enabling more children to be raised in their own homes by their own parents (Rymph, 2012). With child welfare formed they started to see cases of child abuse. The following will discuss what is child abuse and child neglect and how the human services has and need to handle these clients.

Child abuse

Every child deserves a loving environment where they are not afraid of parental or elderly figures (Kiran, 2011). In recent years, the community has become increasingly aware of the problem of child abuse in our society (Kiran, 2011). Child abuse is prevalent in every segment of the society and is witnessed in all social, ethnic, religious and professional strata (Kiran, 2011). Human Services has several department which are doing different things. One department that has become a needed department would be child welfare. The following will help explain why it is needed. It will also be talking about the Human Services history and systems.

One will work with children and families in need, many times they will deal with children that living in poor conditions, such as abuse, neglect, alcoholism, drug addiction, and poverty (Strolin-Goltzman, Kollar, & Trinkle, 2010). Childhood should be a happy time, filled with memories of warmth, love, and carefree times (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015).Unfortunately, not every child is blessed with loving parents and stable home lives (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015). Some children are forced to cope with upheaval and problems at home, such as abuse, neglect, alcoholism, drug addiction, and poverty (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015).Even in the United States, one of the most advanced countries in the world, some children still want for even the most basic of necessities, including food, shelter, health care, and appropriate clothing (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015). Children who grow up in happy homes where all of their needs are met, typically grow up to become happy, stable, and well-adjusted adults (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015). On the other hand, those that grow up surrounded by unpleasant and dangerous situations often grow up suffering from mental and emotional unrest (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015). They are plagued by the memories and images from their childhood, and some may even repeat the behavior that they witnessed, thinking that it’s normal (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015). For example, studies show that children that grow up with abuse either go on to become abusers themselves or find themselves trapped in abusive relationships (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015).

Child Neglect

Abuse and neglect, however, are major concerns for most child welfare social workers (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015).The signs of both neglect and abuse can be very subtle at times and difficult to spot to the untrained eye (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015). As a child welfare social worker, you will be trained to recognize signs of neglect and abuse in children and investigate. Below are a few examples of identifying signs of neglect and different types of abuse (Child Welfare Social Work Careers, 2015).

Human service today

Todays United States economy did not stand out until the 1970’s, nonprofit organization today offering a complex set of programs (Noris-Tirrel, 2014). Domestic violence shelters, job training and employment programs, child care centers, foster care, child protection these are a list of human services today provided by nonprofit organizations (Norris-Tirrel, 2014), Nonprofit organizations have been known to partnering with government, private business and communities in the delivery of human services (Norris-Tirrel, 2014).

Conclusion

Human Services has several department which are doing different things. One department that has become a needed department would be child welfare. The following will help explain why it is needed. It will also be talking about the Human Services history and systems. Human Services has several department which are doing different things. One department that has become a needed department would be child welfare. The following will help explain why it is needed. Child welfare has been more involved with today’s society because of child abuse/child neglect is going on and being heard of more today than it was in the past of Human Services fields. Human services has evolved into a network of programs and agencies that provide an array of services to millions of Americans (Burger, 2014, p. 2). Primary social supports such as family, and friends, also play role in meeting human needs, and that role will be examined (Burger, 2014, p. 2). Early approaches to human services were centered on the hazards of illness, disability, and economic dependence. Programs were designed to help people who were unable to take care of their own needs. It was recognized that people with little or no income increasingly complex industrial societies were at risk of starvation or serious distress (Burger, 2014, p. 7). Human services are organized activities that help people in the areas of health care; mental health, including care for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities and the physically handicapped; social welfare; child care; criminal justice; housing; recreation; and education (Burger, 2014, p. 8).

References

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