Child welfare pertains to a broad range of services that are provided by an agency to ensure that children are living in non-hazardous conditions that will not inhibit their full physical, psychological, emotional, and social development.
- About 25% of the cases of child maltreatment are due to physical abuse
- Even though child maltreatment occurs at all socio-economic levels, children living in poverty are more susceptible to maltreatment
- Currently there are 13 million children in the United States are living in poverty
- Many abused children are forced to grow up way faster than they have to. On top of the trauma of being abused, many have to take on the role of being the parent for their younger sibling.
- This is because many parents are unable to take on their responsibilities while dealing with drug or alcohol habits, which account for 67% of parents involved with the child welfare system.
- Social workers intervene in a variety of ways
- Through direct services such as central register screening, risk assessment, problem identification, crisis intervention, needs/ resources identification, and much more immediate supervision work. ( micro work)
- In program development and administration, social workers handle the logistics of an organization to ensure it is ran efficiently
- Lastly, through program evaluation, social workers ensure that whatever program being ran conforms to the needs and assessments of the population being dealt with to ensure they are bringing about as much change as possible.
Works Cited
DiNitto, D., & McNeece, C. (2008). Social work: Issues and opportunities in a challenging profession (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books
SW 250 at Binghamton University 