StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Child Welfare in NYC - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The essay "Child Welfare in NYC" will focus on adoption as an area of child welfare primarily in New York City (NYC) and critically examine its impacts or how it has impacted the permanency agenda. Thereafter, recommendations will be made on how to address the identified obstacles to permanency in regard to adoption. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.9% of users find it useful
Child Welfare in NYC
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Child Welfare in NYC"

Child Welfare of Child Welfare Children are exposed to various challenges and dangers that have the potential of compromising their welfare both in the short and long run. It is therefore necessary that policies and services be in place to safeguard their welfare, hence child welfare system. The government of the United States have various services that aim at promoting child welfare. Child Welfare Information Gateway (2011) defines child welfare system as a group of services that are designed to enhance children’s well- being by achieving permanency, strengthening families to facilitate their children care, and ensuring safety. Essentially, child welfare’s aim is to protect children and encourage stability in families. Services designed in child welfare include adoption services, supporting of at- risk families to ensure their stability, and foster care among others. The attention of the child welfare is drawn to the following situations among children often referred as child abuse; neglect, psychological abuse, child sexual abuse, and physical abuse Child Welfare Information Gateway (2011). Even though the main responsibility for child welfare services lies with the States, Federal Government have a crucial role in supporting the delivery of services by the States through legislative initiatives and funding of programs Child Welfare Information Gateway (2011). The Ultimate goal of child is to ensure that there is child continuity of relationships under the care caretakers and parents. Indeed, all the roads in child welfare must lead to permanency for the involved child. However, many structural, policy and practice issues often interfere with achieving this goal in a timely and effective manner. This discussion will focus on adoption as an area of child welfare primarily in New York City (NYC) and critically examine its impacts or how it has impacted the permanency agenda. Thereafter, recommendations will be made on how to address the identified obstacles to permanency in regard to adoption. Permanency The ultimate goal of child welfare is permanency for the child involved. In child welfare, permanency is defined as nurturing and legally permanent family for every child (Maluccio, Fein, Olmstead, 1986). The concept of permanency in child welfare is based on specific values such as significance of parent- child attachment, importance of biological families, and the primacy of family. According to Maluccio, Fein and Olmstead (1986), permanency is achieved and maintained through permanent placements with relatives, adoption from foster care, family reunification, and guardianship. The concept of permanency in child welfare in the United States is based on the research that shows that children grow up best in stable and nurturing families (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2011). These families have legal status; that is, parents have legal responsibility and right to protect the welfare and interests of their children. In addition, these families have members, whose fates are intertwined, meaning they share a common future. Also, they offer continuity and commitment in the sense that they survive the challenges of life intact. However, it is worth noting that permanency is not guaranteed in families, not even biological families. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2011) explains that permanency conveys intent; therefore, families that express legally or through other ways their intent to remain together are important to the wellbeing of children and their ability to grow up happy and healthy. Maluccio, Fein and Olmstead (1986) explains that permanency planning is a critical process in permanency that facilitates carrying out a set of goal- directed activities within a given period of time designed to help children attain permanency. The goal of the process is to provide child continuity with caretakers or nurturing parents hence establishing lifetime family relationships. The history of permanency in the U.S dates back to 1950 when its importance was recognized and entrenched in the child welfare services. Various researches and demonstration programs contributed greatly to the development of the permanency concept in the U.S child welfare. They culminated to Adoption Assistance and Child Adoption Act of 1980 whose core elements were prevention of foster care placement, planning, family involvement, permanency, and assessment. The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 further strengthened these elements (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011). Adoption Adoption is one of the child welfare services that aim at achieving permanency, strengthening families to facilitate their children care, and ensuring safety. Just like other child welfare services, adoption has impacts on the permanency agenda. Therefore, it is important to understand adoption in relation to child welfare. The Centre for Adoption Support and Education (2009) defines adoption as a process through which a particular person or couple assumes the parenting for another and by doing so, all responsibilities and rights are transferred to adopting parent(s) from the original parent(s). Adoption is aimed at effecting permanent change in status of the adopted child and it therefore needs societal recognition through religious or legal sanction (The Centre for Adoption Support and Education, 2009). It is important to point out that adoption is the legal, emotional, and social process whereby the adopted child becomes permanent and legal member of another family while still maintaining psychological and genetic connections to his or her original family. Unlike other systems of child welfare such as guardianship, permanency is achieved more in the sense of its definition and application through adoption. Adoption in New York City is regulated by the NYC Children’s Services; it is the City’s child welfare agency that is mandated with the responsibility to protect children and strengthen families with ultimate goal of achieving permanency (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2011). According to the NYC Children’s Services, currently, the City has about 16,000 children who are under foster care. Permanency Issues In as much as permanency is the ultimate goal of child welfare, there is numerous structural, policies, and practice issues that often interfere with achieving this goal in a timely and effective manner. Maluccio, Fein, and Olmstead (1986) state that there are four major permanency issues. One is a permanent home; foster parents should work towards providing a stable home where a child can grow. They need to recognize the important nature of honour and bonding that original attachment to the original parents has. They also need to understand what problems led to removal of the child from the original home and seek to prevent such occurrences in the future. Also, they should prepare the return of the child to the birth family, and subsequently monitor the progress or lack of progress toward reunification. The second permanency issue is searching for permanence; it is important that the complaint of neglect or abuse be investigated immediately. If the complaint is substantiated, the following four choices suffice; offering of in- home support, reunification is the second option if a child must be removed, consideration of kin care, and maintaining the birth home to ensure bonding is preserved (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011). The third permanency issue is the pseudo- permanency plans; identification of permanency plans is the priority but often temporary choice should also be made such as identification of kin. However, the state should aim at finding permanent homes for every child, because trying to solve problems with pseudo- permanency plans and euphemisms may not solve the problem amicably and will thus not achieve its intended purpose. Contingency planning is another permanency issue; it calls for back up in permanency planning. According to Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), contingency plan should be built from the time a child is placed outside the home. Reunification is the primary goal when the child is removed for neglect, healing, or abuse. However, if reunification fails there should be an alternative permanency plan in place. ASFA provides three possible contingency plans namely kin care, permanent legal guardianship, and adoption. Maluccio, Fein and Olmstead (1986) argue that a good contingency plan should be specific and should identify the alternative choice. In the light of the aforementioned permanency issues, social workers are likely to face a number of ethical dilemmas. Social workers may find it difficult to coordinate the process of finding permanent home for children because they may be accused of interfering with the privacy and rights of other people, particularly the foster parents. Also, confidentiality dilemma may arise when they are searching for permanence because they may be forced to reveal some of confidential information regarding a particular child and the circumstances surrounding the need for search of permanence (Maluccio, Fein and Olmstead, 1986). Besides, failure to get true permanent solutions to children hence resorting to pseudo- permanency plans may compromise the ethics of social worker because pseudo- permanency plans may only serve to worsen the situation of the child. Recommendations Despite the fact that permanency being the most critical aspect in child welfare, there are several obstacles especially in regard to adoption. Therefore, the following recommendations are made in a bid to address these obstacles; one, all permanency plans should be in such a manner that it promotes the reunification process even though the legal rights and responsibility will have been transferred to a different parent. Two, adoption as a child welfare service should adhere to all legal and social requirements and take into consideration all the issues that arise in the process. Summary It is evidently clear that child welfare is important in enhancing children’s well- being by achieving permanency, strengthening families to facilitate their children care, and ensuring safety. Adoption is one of the best child welfare systems that seek to enhance permanency which is at the core of child welfare. Therefore, all legal requirements and ethical issues should be considered and addressed in order to ensure that adoption has achieved its ultimate goal and that of child welfare. References Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2011). How the child welfare system works. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. Retrieved from www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/ Maluccio, A., Fein, E., & Olmstead, K. (1986). Permanency planning for children: Concepts and methods. New York, NY: Tavistock Publications. The Centre for Adoption Support and Education. (2009). Core Issues in Adoption. Retrieved from http://www.adoptionsupport.org/res/indexcorea.php U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2011). Concept and History of Permanency in U.S. Child Welfare. Retrieved from http://www.childwelfare.gov/permanency/overview/history.cfm Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Child Welfare in NYC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words, n.d.)
Child Welfare in NYC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words. https://studentshare.org/family-consumer-science/1765199-child-welfare
(Child Welfare in NYC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words)
Child Welfare in NYC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words. https://studentshare.org/family-consumer-science/1765199-child-welfare.
“Child Welfare in NYC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words”. https://studentshare.org/family-consumer-science/1765199-child-welfare.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Child Welfare in NYC

Engineering Law

The response to implement company preventive training is against the code of ethics and does not even guarantee safety, health, and welfare of the public as required by the OACETT code of ethics.... This would remove the risk of jeopardizing the safety and welfare of the public as well as ensure the environment is safe from imminent explosions and in that way you will have observed the most critical value of OACTET code of ethics....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Pros and Cons of High Stakes Testing in California

Moreover, data from statewide testing is normally available to the public hence every parent is capable of viewing the performance of the child.... Accessibility of these information aids parents in making of more informed decisions concerning how their child fair on with education (Madaus, Russell & Higgins, 2009)....
3 Pages (750 words) Research Paper

The Administration for Children Services

This paper will explain what the Administration for Children Services (ACS) is as well as discuss their mission and policies and further critique the organization's current structure.... The purpose of this paper is to address the inefficiency of the current program in place to protect New York City children and to investigate what changes are being implemented to remedy these shortcomings. … The ACS system as it currently operates has strongly failed our children....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Why Separate Siblings

(2005), child welfare for the twenty-first century: a handbook of practices, policies, and programs, New York, Columbia University Press.... The book explores the implications of placing the children in child welfare systems, children taken by the government, children surrendered by parents and placed in the foster systems or adopted by a different couple.... (2005), child welfare for the twenty-first century: a handbook of practices, policies, and programs, New York, Columbia University Press....
2 Pages (500 words) Annotated Bibliography

Developing work with children and young people

This value is a response towards the failures in previous welfare and social services work which approached the practice from a top-down approach.... This will be in terms of both theory and practice in several aspects of child and youth work.... The shift towards person-centered practice places a great deal of weight on the interaction happening between the worker and the child/youth; it is the point of interaction that proves indispensable for the success of the person-centred approach....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

How the media programs present important political issues

n example is the MRC‘s materials which deal with important political, social and cultural issues in America; abortion and human rights, affirmative action, child welfare, criminal justice or capital punishment, drug traffics and use as well as many others.... This essay demonstrates nowadays the media is governed under democracy and are able to air any information regardless of the political stand of the party, unlike the past where many of the media houses were controlled by the government hence aired only necessary information… The media that consist of television and radio provide an overview of developments in research of political issues and campaigning....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Business Sector

president should be able to balance the tax collected budget for the improvements of the following: (1) employer-related work subsidies which includes the 401K plans; (2) homeownership; (3) savings and investment incentives; (4) education and training; (5) child health and nutrition; (6) work supports; (7) other child well-being such as the foster care and children's welfare services; (8) business incentives and development; (9) citizenship services; and (10) equal opportunity services....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper

The Importance of Kops and Kids Program

They are given a chance to spend time with an officer as Bluemer (1999) tells, “the program requires that each officer and child spend time together on a regular basis, creating their own agendas”.... The paper "The Importance of Kops and Kids Program" states that Kops n kids program is designed for character and personality building of young population....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us