Child abuse as a social issue - Essay Example

A child can develop well only when he gets proper education and health care facilities. Well-being of children can be assured only when the society has the ability to protect the rights of its children and safeguard them from injury and abuse (Jack & Gill, 2010, p.82). Child welfare agencies are formed for protection of children and their all round development. These agencies make their decisions regarding their child protection policies about permanent well-being of children. These decisions are based on interviews taken of children and families who have been reported for child abuse or neglect.

The efficiency of child welfare policies depends on the ability of the agencies to conduct proper investigations of the mistreatment received by the child. Only precise conclusions about safety of children derived from the information collected from such investigations can build effective case plans. Workers of these agencies who take the responsibilities of taking interviews of children must have the knowledge and skills to make emotional inquiries in a sensitive manner. The agencies should be able to impart necessary values and knowledge to their workers through effective training in order to fulfill their child safety missions (Pence, 2011, p.50). Over the past three decades the philosophy and strategies of determining whether intervention is necessary in situations where a child is abused or has the potential risk of being harmed or injured have altered.

The traditional method of child maltreatment investigations which involved participation of criminal and juvenile laws has evolved. Now, there are more “understanding of risk and safety, political pressures, implementation of evidence-based and research-supported interventions, philosophical shifts, and other variables” (Pence, 2011, p.51). Where traditionally the agency workers used to take action based on complaints of abuse, now take necessary steps to collect correct information regarding the truth and extent of maltreatment and what case plans should be made to ensure the safety of the children and promote protective behavioral patterns in the caretakers (Pence, 2011, p.51). There are many factors that determine the shape of child welfare services – the number of children in a population who are abused or are at risk, the social and economic conditions of the families and their technological advancement, prevailing ideologies concerning the children and the other members of their families, political pressure from different groups, and the principal views about reasons behind poverty, illness and crime.

One criteria that is a permanent issue of child welfare agencies is to find solution to problems of those children whose parents cannot provide proper care. Although the proposed solution is “permanency planning”, history suggests that such planning cannot abolish the need of wide-ranging public provisions for children who are poor, neglected or disabled (Mallon & Hess, 2005, p.10). The rate of child abuse has grown significantly all over the world and is essentially evident in North America and Western Europe.

Between the years 1980 to 1993, the number of children who have been subject to mistreatment has doubled. This is a grave matter which has imposed great strains on the child welfare age