Throughout history children have been abused and left the abusers with no trial. There were nolaws that protect children from their abusive parents or from their owners (as it happened to theAfrican Americans childrens during slavery). The history of child welfare began in New York inthe late 1800s when huge wave of immigrants strike toward the United States seeking foremployment and better life. Womens were no longer work at home, severe poverty hit thefamilies and child abuse reach levels of considering children private properties or chattel.
The history of legal child protection in the U.S. began in 1873 when a 9 year old Mary Ellenwas abused by her guarding that brought the attention of church girl to help Mary. She looked forlegal ways to help her. Soon Henry Burg, former diplomat, and Albert Gerry, hear about Marydesperate situation and deciding to help her. They decided to help her by applying the sameprotection that they applied when they created The American Society for Prevention of Crueltyto Animals (ASPCA).
This was the first phase in the development of the legal protection for an abused children.
I chose this topic because child welfare is important to my country, Eritrea, since thegovernment is abusing children by placing them in indefinite military service, imprison themwithout legal trail, and use them as workers on any government or military facilities withoutproper payment. This led to huge number of Eritreans to desert the country especially childrenbetween the age of 12-17 years old to flee to were their foot is going to end up in place wherechildren rights is respected and enforced by the law.
Also, I chose this topic to know more abouthow child treatment and rights have changed since the past.
Before we go deep on exploring and discussing child maltreatment, child welfare, and family it’salways good to define the terms first. Child maltreatment is when a child abused physically,sexually, psychologically, or neglected by parents or guardian. Child welfare is a network ofpolicies and programs designed to empower families, promote a healthy environment, protectchildren, and meet children’s needs. Lastly, family is when a group of consisting of parents andtheir children live together (Karen K. Kirst-Ashman, 277-282.)Its has been saying that child maltreatment is on decline since the Great Recession, but someresearch showed the opposite.
According to Seth (2013), an economist, she showed that childmaltreatment have been increased since the great recession due to the economic downturn byproving that the google search engine for child abuse increased as soon as the Great Recessionbegan and didn’t drop during the recession.
Children maltreatment is not just existed at the U.S. but its a global problem that every nation aresuffering from it. According Jonathan Bradshaw, the author of The Well-Being of Children inthe UK, 48 children homicide in 2013-14, over 36,000 have a sexual offence recorded under theage of 18 and a severe maltreatment by a guardian or parent of 25% and 15% respectively. Children is not just being abused sexully or phschologicy but also are subject to trafficking. Thenumber of unaccompanied migrant children is on its highest record – 300,000 – which gives a room for human traffickers and smugglers to abuse children sexually and physically (Gladstone,2017.)
Like any other fields or careers, to practice social work for child welfare and child maltreatmentyou have to meet certain criteria in order to practice on that field. First, you have to haveefficient knowledge about the diversity nature that your client have, about social welfarepolicies, and about how to strengthen and empower your clients. Second, you have to have somebasic social work values: service, integrity, individual personal values, and social justice. Third,you need to have the skills of engagement with your clients, planning for solving the problem, listening and communication skills, empathy, leadership and critical thinking skills. Lastly, youneed to have some social work competencies like the application of social work ethical principlesto guide the practice on the field, the intervention of policy making to advance social &economic welfare and the application of knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.
In conclusion, I have learned a lot of lessons on child welfare and maltreatment. Social work wasthe key to end the abusive nature toward childrens. Childrens for long period of time, throughouthistory, have been subject to cruel treatment by families and guardian or employers. They weretreated so bad to an extent that they were considered as a property or chattel sometimes. Childmaltreatment was one of top issues that led to creation of welfare not just for kids but also forthe adults. It also helps define child legal rights under their parents or guardians. Although child maltreatment is decreased it still in some countries that children are subjected to forced labor, human trafficking and slavery.
Remember! This is just a sample.
You can get a custom paper by one of our expert writers.
Get your custom essay
Helping students since 2015
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download