Scope Of The Problem Essay

The Scope Of The Problem Each year, many children in the United States become victims of abuse or neglect. In 2000, there was an estimated number of 879,000 victims of maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health and Services). In that same year, three million referrals were made to Child Protective Services, and nearly two thirds were “screened in”, or deemed appropriate for investigation (U.S. Department of Health and Services).According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, an estimated 1,200 children who were known to Child Protective Services died of abuse and neglect in 2000. Not all victims are reported, however, so it is important to keep in mind that these numbers do not accurately portray the scope of child maltreatment. There are also different types of

Cases of neglect are very difficult for Social Workers to handle because of the inconsistent definition of neglect (Dubowitz). There are many different standards of care, including cultural and community standards. These standards of care are always changing due to the knowledge of things like health or child development. New discoveries are being made quite often, and are always shifting the “standard” level of living. The lack of clear definitions obviously hinder the system’s response by making it difficult to do such things as comparing research findings(Morton). To help aid the definition of abuse, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) gives the minimum standard of defining child abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse(A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect). It defines child abuse as “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caregive, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm”(Child Abuse and Treatment Act). It also files neglect into three categories: Mild, Moderate, and