|
| |
CHILD ABUSE & SOCIAL RESPONSE.
Term Paper ID:20850
|
|
|
Essay Subject:
Evolution of protective public attitudes & legal policy from colonial era to 1990s. Defintion & types, family issues, courts, socioeconomics, children's rights, protective services.... More...
|
12 Pages / 2700 Words
19 sources, 32 Citations,
APA Format
$48.00
Return to List of Papers
|
Paper Abstract:
Evolution of protective public attitudes & legal policy from colonial era to 1990s. Defintion & types, family issues, courts, socioeconomics, children's rights, protective services.
Paper Introduction:
Introduction
In their discussion of childhood abuse and neglect, Papalia and Olds (1972) have offered the following brief definitions:
Maltreatment of children can take several different forms. Child abuse involves physical injury...Neglect is withholding of adequate care, usually physical care such as food, clothing and supervision. Emotional neglect can also occur...(p.166)
This paper examines the history of the social response to childhood abuse and neglect from colonial to contemporary times. The social forces, value systems, institutions, and differing perspectives of childhood abuse and neglect that have evolved over time are emphasized in the report.
History of Child Abuse and Neglect and the Social Response
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
With this recognition came increased servicesoffered not only to abused children but also to their families. (1992). NY: Longman.Brown, F.J. History of Child Abuse and Neglect and the Social Response To The Problem The social response to child abuse and neglect during colonial timeshas been discussed by Axin and Levin (1992). Prior to the establishment of such courts, children could be, andoften were, put to death for actions such as stealing a loaf of bread.Unfortunately, this new view of justice as it applied to children was notfully realized since the correctional and remedial personnel and facilitiesto implement effective program simply were not made available. However, due to the forces of the Industrial Revolution, urbanization,liberal thinking writers, and social reformers, attitudes toward childrenand their need for protection from adult abuse began to grow morebeneficit. & Motz, J.K. The development of an effective response to the abuse of children in out-of-home care. One view holds that theparent is the sole arbiter in punishing the child as long as the punishmentdoes not result in disfigurement or permanent injury, or is not maliciouslyinflicted. Inparticular, groups differed in their beliefs about victim credibility andpunishment of offenders. Human development (5th ed.) NY: McGraw- Hill.Powers, J.L., Mooney, A. In addition to court decisions, social legislation and policypositions taken by various national organizations have advanced thechildren's rights movements and the notion that children who have beenabused and/or neglected need protective services. Another contemporary problem in providing social services to abusedand neglected children has been discussed by Powers, Mooney and Nunno(199 ) which is the difficulty the social welfare system and otherpertinent authorities have in identifying abusive families. Special Issue: Early child maltreatment. Regarding the family, Abramovitz (1976) notes that during theColonial Period, American families were held together by strict, rigid, andaustere religious codes of morality. psychologists, school staff, etc.).Evidence of this problem was documented by Zellman (199 ) in her nationalsurvey of 1,196 mandated reporters. Freeman and Company.Nunno, M.A. Aries (1962) has noted that during the 18 s, the social response toabused and neglected children slowly turned more beneficent, especiallyamong the more educated upper class. Journal of Social Issues, 34, 8-28.Wilkerson, A.E. These obstacles were said toinclude: lack of good defintions of what constitutes abuse, an imperfectknowledge base, an expansion of the problem into institutional abuse, andproblems in reporting. These reformers, Takanishi (1978) states, sought social justice forchildren not through church-related charities and activities but throughdirect governmental intervention, subsidies and judicial action. Psychology and the juvenile justice system. In A.E.Wilkerson (ed.), The rights of children. ChildAbuse and Neglect, 12(1), 83-9 .Schultz, L.G. In other words, judges think about theproblem differently than do psychologists and psychologists think about theproblem somewhat differently than social workers. Nonetheless, out of the increasingly more humane social perspectiveof children and their needs, the 19th and 2 th centuries witnessed acontinuing expansion of social services dealing not only with child abuseand neglect but with almost every aspect of child welfare. This is because, in both, theinterests of the State are clearly viewed as more potent than those of theparents in terms of protecting the welfare of children. Child welfare services past and present. & Levin, H. As public attitudes became more enlightened, the legal and judicialresponse to abused children grew more protective and less harsh and wasaccompanied by a proliferation of governmental (rather than justcharitable) agencies, institutions, and governmental bodies such ascommissions designed to remediate and, if possible, prevent the problem.In 1946, the abused and neglected child was officially recognized as theBattered Child Syndrome. The funding and legislation resulted in the expansion of contemporarysocial services to abusive families. Further, rural economic conditionsrequired every family member (including young children) to share fully inthe workload. The paper noted that while protective services for abused andneglected children are widespread today, there remain a number of obstaclesstanding in the way of full service delivery. Childhood as a social issue: Historical roots ofcontemporary child advocacy movements. (1979). The rights of children. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Zellman, G.L. However, during Colonial times, it was the strict disciplinary viewthat prevailed. The notion of viewing the family rather than simply the child as introuble and tailoring the social response to the family as a whole was notpresent during colonial times. Robert Black. (ed., 1973). & Olds, S.W. The need for aclear definition of the line between discipline and abuse is importantbecause many social services cannot be provided to families unless anduntil parents have been shown to have crossed the line between punishmentand abuse. Kadushin (1976)reports that during these centuries, enacted laws covered such variouschild-related matters as mandatory immunization, care of the handicapped,and increasing protection for children who were abused and neglected. In A.E. (1973). Reporting incidents of chid abuse is a problem not only for doctorsbut also most mandated reporters (e.g. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Coughlin, B.J. Another area of difficulty regarding the contemporary social responseto abuse has been researched by Saunders (1988). According to Nunno and Motz (1988), theincidence of out-of-home maltreatment, especially sexual exploitation andabuse, has given rise to new expectations and legislation that has placedthe protection of children in alternate care in the hands of the childprotective system. Theirfocus was not upon the family's failure to provide but society's failure.They insisted that children had certain social and legal rights. Illinois (1869), the Courtrestricted parental authority over children to actions that are within theboundary of reason and humanity, and held further that children must beprotected by the law from depraved parents who commit wanton and needlesslycruel acts. American Psychologist, 34, 1 9-1 16.Lomax, E.M.R., Kagan, J. Federal policies for research on children. Specifically, Saundersstates that contemporary efforts to deal with abuse are hampered by thediffering perspectives of the problem held by service professionals ofdiverse educational orientations. The authors make the pointthat during these times (16th and 17th centuries), abused and neglectedchildren were viewed as potentially productive members of society thatneeded to be removed from the abusive and/or neglectful family and giventhe opportunity to prosper--this, where prosperity was defined inessentially financial terms rather than in terms of thriving emotionallyand psychologically. As the colonies grew and became more financially able, abused and/orneglected children were increasingly placed under institutional care,namely that of the almshouses. Ohio (1948) the Court took the clear position thatrights guaranteed to adults apply to children as well. The concept that children were"innocent" began to develop. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 1(1), 29-38.Shepherd, R.E., Jr. (1976). One hundred cases of unfounded child abuse: A survey and recommendations. More importantly in terms of the conceptcontinuing to flourish, this innocence was confirmed by the Church. (1973). The authors state that such investigations differ in both purpose andscope from familial investigations, and the current protective system iswithout adequate preparation, policy, and the procedures needed to performthem. (199 ). (199 ). AmericanPsychologist, 34, 1 2 -1 23.Takanishi, R. Wilkerson (ed.), The rights of children. ReferencesAbramovitz, R. Child abuse and neglect, however, were not really noted ascontemporary problems until about 1946; in fact, it was not until 1961 thatthe host of physical and psychoemotional consequences arising from childabuse and neglect were given the name of the Battered Child Syndrome(Shepherd, 1973). This finding has an importantimplication for child protection, which is that, unless child protectionagencies take measures to reduce this perception among mandated reporters,there are going to be children and families who need but who are notreceiving services. In a broader context, the Battered Child Syndrome wassaid to also result from sexual molestation or serious neglect whichdeprived the child of the necessary ingredients for survival. & Nunno, M. For example, there continue to be problemsdefining where parental discipline ends and abuse begins. Zellman's analyses revealed that most mandated reporters failed toreport abuse because they believed that they lacked sufficient evidence.Also, a substantial number failed to report because of perceived problemswith child protective service agencies. According to Lomax, Kagan and Rosenkrantz (1978), the idea of familygrew increasingly important with the Industrial Revolution, and the care ofchildren in general was more and more based on the perspective thatrecognized their weakness and the fact that they were developing organismsrequiring special instruction and moral training. In thedelineation of the syndrome, it was noted that these assaults oftenresulted in lacerations, burns, broken bones, internal bleeding, andsometimes death. Sheconcludes that the ways in which socioeconomic characteristics, personaland environmental stresses, and individual attributes and actions combineto produce different abusive behaviors is not yet fully understood makingit difficult to provide effective service delivery. Regarding the differences between the two positions, the influence ofthe history of the child welfare and social reform movements is evident inboth of the above legal interpretations. Although the history of the social response to childhood abuse andneglect has seen great progress in addressing and correcting the problem,many difficulties still remain. (1939). (1989). The foregoing problem has been discussed by Schultz (1989) who pointsout that in this country the courts have held two differing viewsconcerning the boundaries of parental discipline. (1976). Influencing social reformers were the writings of European andAmerican philosophers. In addition, Powers et al. In this regard,Hallett (1988) has stated that in spite of professional and public concernand a growing body of research in the field of child abuse, there is a lackof knowledge regarding the incidence of abuse and the characteristics ofabusing families. These authorshave noted that child abusers tend to be suspicious of others, to besocially isolated, and are not easily identified by their sex, economicstatus, race, religious preference or other distinctive traits; indeed, theonly characteristic they often share in common is a history of themselvesbeing battered and/or neglected. A comparative study of attitudes toward childhoodsexual abuse among social work and judicial systems professionals. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 5(1), 3-22.----------------------- 14 Research in child abuse: Some observations on the knowledge base. The abused child and the law. The other position holds that a parent has a right to punish achild so long as the punishment is in the welfare of the child and is keptwithin the bounds of reason and moderation. Further, Hallett states that the variety of definitions of childphysical or sexual abuse used by researchers and health and welfareagencies makes accurate estimates of incidence rates difficult. For example, Wilkerson notes that in the 19th century, both Illinoisand Colorado established separate juvenile courts to provide children withless harsh treatment for behaviors considered delinquent. Investigated attitudes were those specific to victim credibility,victim culpability, offender culpability, and the crime and punishment ofchild sexual abuse. Services are of a wide variety andinclude efforts aimed at both prevention and remediation of the problem.These services include financial aid to families to support their childrenat home, maternity homes, day care centers, adoption procedures andcounseling. Philadelphia: Temple UniversityPress, 174-189.Sobel, S.B. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 4(6), 81-95.Saunders, E.J. Doctors are also placed in the difficult position ofinterpreting their medical findings on the basis of indirect evidence ofchallenging the parents' accounts of the injury. In terms of the social forces effecting these changes in the responseto children, Takanishi (1978) points out that the child welfare movementand its response to abused and neglected children during the 19th and 2 thcenturies was initiated by the socioeconomic changes brought about byindustrialization and urbanization as well as by new views on the nature ofchildhood provided by social reformers. The social forces, valuesystems, institutions, and differing perspectives of childhood abuse andneglect that have evolved over time are emphasized in the report. Evidence for Saunders (1988) views' was found in his investigation ofthe attitudes of five professional groups within an urban criminal justicesystem. Emotional neglect can also occur...(p.166)This paper examines the history of the social response to childhood abuseand neglect from colonial to contemporary times. However, Wilkerson (1973) has pointed outthat even though almshouses were, at least in part, a humanitarian responseto what was increasingly coming to be understood as the inhumane treatmentof children, most of these institutions were, in reality, harsh andpunitive places. for example, by the eighteenth century, Rousseau,the father of modern educational philosophy, underscored the shifting ideaof childhood when he wrote: We expect to find the man in the child without thinking of what the child is before he is a man...Childhood has ways of seeing, thinking, feeling peculiar to itself; nothing is more absurd than to wish to substitute ours in their place (Brown, 1939, p.11). & Rosenkrantz, B.G. NY: VintageBooks (Random House).Axin, J. The sociology of childhood. Philadelphia:Temple University Press, 3-23.Hallett, C. San Francisco: W.H. However, Wilkerson(1973) reports that it was not until the 18th century that this differingperspective of children began to be reflected in the courts. (1988). Centuries of childhood, trans. Adding to the foregoing problem is the fact that placement ofchildren in foster or residential care does not ensure that they will besafe from abuse or neglect. All of the 1 3 subjects in the study had professional involvement inchild sexual abuse cases and included social workers, police officers,district attorneys, public defenders and judges. (1988). (1962). Institutional abuse: A review of the literature. Science and patterns of child care. While Saunders focusesprimarily on childhood sexual abuse, the implications of his discussion andfindings for general child abuse are obvious. Also, there are clinics, residential treatment centers,community health centers, free school lunch programs, and so forth, each ofwhich has, as part of its mission, to remediate/prevent problems of childabuse and neglect. Some of the more recent agencies and commissions created by Congressto protect the rights of children include the President's Panel on MentalRetardation (1961), the National Institute of Child Health and HumanDevelopment (1963), the Joint Commission on the Mental Health of Children(1965), the Office of Child Development (1967), and the Juvenile Justiceand Delinquency Prevention Office created in 1974 (Kiesler, 1979; Sobel,1979). Journal ofClinical Child Psychiatry, 5, 51-55.Kiesler, S.B. In more behavioral terms, the Battered Child Syndromewas used to refer to regular physical assault on a child by a parent withfists, sticks, hot irons, cigarettes, or other harmful objects. Because children were needed to ensure the family's economicsurvival, they were given home training and kept in tow by harshdisciplinary measures. In 1959, the United Nations Assembly adopted a declaration affirmingits belief in human rights for children as well as adults. Social welfare: A history of the Americanresponse to need. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 6(3), 119-124.Kadushin, A. In 1912, for example,Congress established the Children's Bureau, to investigate and report upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all class of people (cited in Kiesler, 1979, p.1 14)The establishment of this Bureau also extended the State's jurisdiction andresponsibility for the welfare of children to the areas of child labor,child health and recreation, child education, and the care of the atypicalchild. And in this regard, Axin and Levin (199 ) note that themeasures taken to remove abused and neglected children from the homeenvironment and give them the opportunity to prosper included farming out,indenture, and apprenticeship, each of which was viewed as providing thechild with both a governing family structure and a means of productivity. Thesuccess of their efforts can be seen in the history of decisions renderedby the courts over the last 1 years. (1979). Morerecent recognition of this problem (which some experts say was much moreserious one hundred years ago) is found in the many state statutesrequiring physicians to report instances of child abuse. As predicted, significantdifferences in attitudes were found among all five professional groups. Child abuse reporting and failure to report among mandated reporters: Prevalence, incidence and reasons. In addition,the Assembly resolved to enact more effective child abuse laws and toimprove juvenile courts and child welfare services (Coughlin, 1973). Another contemporary difficulty in providing maximal services toabusive families concerns the existing knowledge base. (1988). United Nations Declaration of the Rights of theChild. It was noted thatduring colonial times both the perspective of children in general and theservices offered to abused and neglected children in particular were harsh. (1978). (199 ) point out that it is very difficultto prove child abuse, since parents may take their battered children todifferent hospitals to avoid detection, and the police are prevented by lawfrom intruding into family affairs unless there are ample grounds forsuspicions. (1978). Child Abuse and Neglect, 12(4), 521-528.Papalia, D.E. (1992). Introduction In their discussion of childhood abuse and neglect, Papalia and Olds(1972) have offered the following brief definitions: Maltreatment of children can take several different forms. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 5, 43-46.Aries, P. At the federallevel Congress enacted the 1974 Child Abuse and Prevention Act, whichallocated 85 million dollars to treat these youngsters and their parents. This fact hasspecial importance for abused and neglected children because it wasfrequently they who, as a result of maltreatment, were brought before thecourts for delinquent actions. Child abuse involves physical injury...Neglect is withholding of adequate care, usually physical care such as food, clothing and supervision. Summary This paper examined the history of the social response to childhoodabuse and neglect from colonial to contemporary times. However, later, during the Industrial Revolution,the American family assumed particular importance, providing its membersthe social stability and support needed to withstand the unsettling forcesof economic growth and social change. In Haley v. Parenthood in America. Nunno and Motz suggest that specialized investigation units may bemore suited to these investigations than traditional child protectiveservices. For example, in the case of Fletcher v. According to Abramovitz (1976), this can beunderstood by examining the history of the family which, over time, changedfrom a rather impersonal contract to legitimize the transmission ofproperty to heirs to a more meaningful relationship between parents andchildren, this change being in part brought about by the religious ideathat children were the living images of their parents, an inspired ideawhich Abramovitz feels operated to enhance the family bond.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
Click here to request an essay written just for you.
|
|
|
