Child Protective Services
Research papers on Child Protective Services illustrate how this government agency is part of the social services of the United States. Sociology courses may look at social agencies in the government that affect various sectors of society. Have Paper Masters custom write a research paper on Child Protective Services for you.
Child Protective Services (CPS) is a government agency in many jurisdictions across the United States. CPS responds to allegations of the following type:
These agencies were originally created in the 1970s in response to the federal government's mandate for all states to establish procedures for investigating suspected child mistreatment.
Child Protective Services Policies
Children with a history of abuse and mistreatment are far more likely to develop psychological problems in life, including the development of disorganized attachment. Therefore, this government agency will remove children from neglectful or dangerous environments for their own safety and wellbeing. However, there must be reasonable cause suspecting child abuse or neglect before CPS becomes involved in a situation. There are standards that guide investigators when seeking information. The ultimate goal of CPS is to reunite families, but many serious cases never lead to reunification.
According to statistics, in 2004, there were about 3.5 million children across the United States subject to investigations regarding abuse and neglect. In 2007, almost 1800 children died as a result of abuse or neglect, clearly indicating a need for such an agency. However, CPS agencies are also subject to criticism, noting that poor parents are more likely to lose children to CPS because they cannot hire attorneys, and that in some cases, government bureaucrats have demonstrated corruption.
The Goals of Child Protective Services
Child abuse and neglect is one of the more central concerns to social welfare professionals.The government has made this a priority in recognizing and treating consequences involved from maltreatment of children.Children's Protective Services are key in intervening on the child's behalf and removing the child to a safe environment. This comes in the way of foster care, adoption, and permanency planning.Unfortunately, these programs can be costly and sometimes ineffective or harmful for some children.Goals to reform the child welfare services is a necessity.
There are however, new threats to children that social, political and economic institutions like child protective services must recognize and respond to.In the health arena are the issues of chemical dependency and exposure to HIV infection.Child welfare in the past being reactive must now become proactive to combat these new health issues.Homelessness among youth is also on the increase. Dealing with homeless youth needs greater national support and approached from an institutional format rather than the traditional residual program.
Violence among children must definitely be addressed to find its source and develop strategies that can teach acceptable methods of resolving conflicts. The result of media's fascination with violence and the everyday reality of inner-city life, violence has become too commonplace for today's children.
Society must take a community-centered approach to promote positive socialization.
The key to developing a proactive program and policy toward child development is in researching and investigating the existing child welfare system. By doing so, new avenues for supportive programs, essential to American children's health and well being, can be established.
First is the understanding that infants are active learners.This insight opens up areas for child development and tools to assess the varying degrees of development.When development is assessed, the decision on whether development is positive or negative can be made and intervention can take place.Providing supportive programs of development that are family and community based will foster healthy developmental growth in children.
Recognizing the role of new research geared to the future's influence on children is necessary for child welfare services to close the gap between research and knowledge. Developing a research agenda that will encompass this effort can make preventive and intervention efforts more effective.Research of this nature is quite complicated due to the temperament of children from one day to the next.It is not impossible however, to develop strategies to meet these researching challenges.