Child+Abuse+8-503

=OPEN YOUR EYES, HEAR THE CRIES! = = Essay 1 = Child abuse has been a problem that has plagued our society for as long as there have been parents and children. Physical child abuse is different depending on the state, but generally it’s an injury given to a child by another person, most commonly the caregiver, by hitting, kicking, punching, shaking, burning, biting, etc., according to Medscape Reference. Another type of abuse, neglect, is the failure to provide necessary things such as food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision according to Child Welfare Information Gateway. Despite attempts to end this injustice against the children of our world, child abuse is still a problem even here in the United States. According to a study published in the 2008 Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior- Third Edition, every 13 seconds a child is abused. What is even more disheartening is that one-fifth of abused children die because of the abuse they suffer on a daily basis. One realizes as they hear stories of children abused to such an inhuman extent, how lucky you may be. You also realize something else as you watch news broadcasts or read newspaper stories about child abuse, that Child Services is painfully inept at their duty to protect America’s children and investigate the crimes committed daily by those who abuse children. This is where the problem arises. We as a nation need child abuse to end for the security of America’s future.

According to a joint study by YesICan.org and the International Child Abuse Network, only 28% of the over 3 million reports of child abuse are investigated by Child Protection Services. Some people refuse to believe that the parents and guardians meant to protect children are actually the ones hurting them. Not only is the mental, physical and emotional torture that these children suffer unnecessary, it’s also wrong. Eighty percent of all children killed by abuse do not live to even turn four years old. It is the United States government’s responsibility to intervene in child abuse cases. Abused children that do survive are scarred for life. More than 80% of people who abuse children are also the parents of the abused according to the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC). Inflicting pain on your child is learned by the child (who’s receiving the abuse) who may later pass it down to their children in a never-ending cycle. Child abuse may have drastic long-term effects such as aggressive behavior, drug abuse, anxiety, and attention disorders. Fifty-nine percent are more likely to be arrested as juveniles and 30% are more likely to commit a violent crime as an adult. Also, according to Children’s Services Practice, children and teens that sexually abuse are abused or neglected at home. Unquestionably, there needs to be greater and more effective action taken against the issue of child abuse. The policies currently in place and Child Services are clearly not doing as much as they need to be doing to help stop these atrocities. We need to move forward and make sure that we enlist every organization, group, association and form of government such as the Child Abuse Prevention Services (CAPS), the Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP), Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Administration for Children and Families (ACYF), concerned citizens, parents, teachers, etc. to be sure they do all they can to help put an end to child abuse. CAPP raises awareness and teaches children that they have a right to be safe and should report to trusted adults that they’re being abused at home. April is the National Childhood Prevention Month which the President and many State Governors proclaims every year, according to the OCFS. CAPS is the only organization that uses volunteers to work directly with elementary, middle, and high school students. They’ve reached thousands of students, parents, and educator, professionals and concerned community group through education and awareness programs. ACYF is part of the HHS and it’s responsible for issues that involve children and families. They administer social services across the United States. The HHS is the United States’ main agency that protects the health of all Americans. We need to make changes, make improvements and whatever else necessary in order to be certain that we have reached our goal. ** Works Cited ** "A Push to Focus on Worst Cases in Child Abuse / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com." The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com. Christian Science Monitor, 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. .

"About CAPS." Long Island's Leading Organization Dedicated to Preventing Bullying and Child Abuse. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .

"About HHS." United States Department of Health and Human Services. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .

"Administration for Children and Families: Administration on Children, Youth and Families." Administration for Children and Families Home Page. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .

AlEissa, Majid A. "A Commentary on National Child Maltreatment Surveillance Systems: Examples of Progress." ElsevierA Commentary on National Child Maltreatment Surveillance Systems: Examples of Progress. ElSevier, 2009. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. .

"Child Abuse and Drugs Summary | BookRags.com." BookRags.com. Book Rags. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

"Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities: Statistics and Interventions." Child Welfare Information Gateway. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

"Child Abuse Statistics." International Child Abuse Network. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

Giardino, Angelo P., and Caroly Pataki. "Child Abuse and Neglect, Physical Abuse." Medscape Reference. 27 Jan. 2010. Web. .

"Our Mission." Capp | Child Abuse Prevention Program | Home. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .

"Proclamations and Press Releases for National Child Abuse Prevention Month." Child Welfare Information Gateway. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .

“Understanding Juvenile Sex Offenders." Children's Services Practice Notes, a Newsletter for Child Welfare Social Workers. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

Essay 2
There's a policy in New York State that says that the local child protection agency in New York City, Child Services, must intervene when child abuse is suspected or seen. Often, someone in the community reports a family to Child Services. Certain people known as "mandated reporters" are required to call the state child abuse hotline and report suspicion. These mandated reporters include foster care workers, medical examiners, physicians, residents, interns, nurses, school officials, police officers, hospital personnel, and others. The organization that proposed this policy was the New York City Child Services. This policy was proposed in 1974. This mandatory reporting is to identify cases of child abuse as soon as possible to protect children from more harm. Disadvantages of this policy are if a mandated reporter reports a family to child services, but there's no abuse in the household, the innocent family must still go through investigation. Also, many of the mandated reporters don't want to be wrong, so they may not report someone they suspect. On the other hand, the benefits of appointed mandated reporters is that if a mandated reporter fails to report a case of child abuse, they could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor and could be subject to criminal penalties, so this may encourage them to speak up. They can also be sued for any damage caused by their failure to make a report to the State Central Register (SCR). Mandated reporters have to get training to be able to identify cases of Child Abuse. The Office Of Children & Family Services (OCFS) is in the charge or the SCR where people are required to report. Mandated reporters are crucial in keeping children safe and helping families get help. However, many people who have no position assigned by the government to do anything about child abuse, may see or know about child abuse that’s going on and might not report because of reasons such as fear, not waning to be involved, simply don’t care, or even worse, agree with the abuser’s actions. Some opposers would be the parents of the children who were abused and people whose religious/cultural beliefs do not follow this policy. Some supporters are parents of children, school staff, doctors, lawyers, and the government. As well as mandatory reporting, there is another policy in affect in New York regarding child abuse. This policy states that when child abuse is uncovered in a case, the child must be provided with food and shelter from government organizations like Child Abuse Prevention Services (CAPS), the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC), the United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), and others. The policy was enacted in 1912. Social Services are to care for the children who were victims of abuse, give them somewhere to stay while waiting for a court hearing, adoption, or other legalities. However, for the time being, the children are settled with a bed, clothing, food, shelter, and activities to do. This policy has no disadvantages. It has been in affect since 1912 up until now, and there's no opposition. This policy has advantages such as the child feels safer away from the harm they experienced, while provided with a well-established shelter with food, clothing, a bed, and activities to interact with other children. Some of the children see a psychiatrist or a pediatrician to help heal emotional and physical wounds. After being in the shelter, the child's overall health improves and lessens the pain they have gone through in their time of abuse. Both of these policies are very helpful to the victims of child abuse and have been proven to help those children. Those kids truly need support in their time of suffering. Luckily, many are getting it.

Works Cited

"Child Protective Services (CPS) - Virginia Department of Social Services." Home Page - Virginia Department of Social Services. Web. 07 Apr. 2011. http://www.dss.virginia.gov/family/cps/index2.cgi.

"Parent's Guide to New York State Child Neglect and Abuse Laws." Web. 28 Feb. 2011. www.nyc.gov/html/acs/downloads/pdf/stateguide_english.pdf.

"State Laws on Reporting and Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect." Child Welfare Information Gateway. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Web. 07 Apr. 2011. [].

__**Essay Three**__ Current policies in place to deal with Child Abuse are inadequate because they are not enforced properly, or because they simply do not give the government enough power to deal with the perpetrators of the abuse. Our public policy to deal with child abuse is a state policy that requires that children under the age of 18 visit the doctor every 6 months. Doctors are mandated to check for any evidence of physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect without the parent or guardian in the room. The State of New York will provide money for this visit should the child’s family not have health insurance. If evidence suggesting child abuse is found, doctors will contact local Child Services to conduct an investigation of that child’s family. A Child Services agent will then carry out an investigation of the family speaking first to the family and neighbors and then people associated or acquainted with the child’s family. If the child is found to have been abused then the agent will be required to contact the local police force, who will arrest the abusers, and place the child in a foster home. The police will follow appropriate protocol to press charges against the abusers. At the foster home the child will undergo therapy with a licensed therapist. This will give the child an opportunity to recover from the emotional and/or physical distress she/he has suffered. The abusers will be charged with endangering the welfare of a child, which is a Class A misdemeanor in New York. New York state criminal law will be amended to extend the sentence for a Class A misdemeanor from a maximum of 1 year of jail to a minimum of 1 year of jail plus mandatory rehabilitation until the therapists deem abusers fully recovered. The judge presiding over the case, however, will determine the exact sentence based on the severity of the case. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this policy. One advantage to this policy is that more cases will be uncovered, and those that are uncovered and prosecuted are less likely to be invalid cases. If the parents/guardians are found to have endangered the welfare of their child by physically, emotionally or sexually abusing their child, then they will serve more time for their crime. However, in addition to sending these abusers to jail, abusers will be sent to a recovery/rehabilitation facility, where they will recover from their violent and indifferent behaviors. The disadvantages to this policy are that if the Child Service agent is incapable or unable to find any convicting evidence, abusers may still be allowed to get away with their crime. Another disadvantage of our policy is that it will cost money to supply uninsured families with health insurance. It will also require money to send the abusers to jail and rehabilitation. This money will come from New York State taxes. Supporters of our policy include organizations such as the Center for Study of Social Policy (CSSP), the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation (CJPF), and other organizations that are against the use of jail to penalize criminals. Rehab is known to have worked, according to an article on law.jrank.org. Our policy is Constitutional. It gives the accused trial by jury, protects and does not violate freedom of worship, nor does it violate the writ of Habeas Corpus, because all of the accused are arrested after careful investigation. Our policy protects and does not violate the freedom of speech, the freedom of press, and does not restrict the right to assemble, or petition. Our policy does not discriminate. Our policy does not hinder one’s ability to partake in elections. Our policy is a constitutional policy that uses rehabilitation in addition to jail time to reform perpetrators of child abuse. Our policy amends the broken laws currently in place to a new policy that will be properly enforced and will help to end child abuse in the United States.

Works Cited

Badger, Emily, and Miller McCune. "A Cure for Child Abuse." Center for the Study of Social Policy. CSSP. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .

"Does Correctional Rehabilitation Work?" Law.jrank.org. Net Industries. Web. 7 Apr. 2011. .

New York State Code: Penal Law § 260.10

Sterling, Eric E. "A Crime Prevention Vision." Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. CJPF. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .

**__<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Essay Four __** <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">Atquiya, Aoife, Aphrodite, Alejandra, and Eugene. To get our policy adopted, we will first make it known to the public and raise awareness about it by holding rallies, writing letters to celebrities for their support, and writing petitions. There are numerous groups that would support our policy, some of which are Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP), Child Help, and the Child Abuse Prevention Association (CAPA). Although it might be hard to believe, there are some people that may not support this policy or even oppose it. Some of these people would include the people that abuse children, and those who don't want their tax money spent on our policy. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">To get our policy enacted we will inform the public about it and raise awareness about the topic of child abuse. To do this, we could first inform a large group of civilians at a public gathering, such as a festival, fair, PTA meeting, Town Hall meeting, etc. Then, if they think that it is an appropriate policy, we will ask them to sign a petition to get the policy adopted. Also, we will hold rallies to show all the negative effects of child abuse and how our policy will help to make this issue disappear slowly but surely. The rallies would be held in different areas of New York City, because many people work and live there, this way we can get more people informed about our topic, as well as more signatures for our petition. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">In addition to holding rallies, we will contact Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Member Peter Vallone Jr., and New York State Senator Michael Gianaris asking them to attend our rallies as supporters of our New York policy. These people are influential figures in our community, who have been known to put effort into many causes, so hopefully, they would be cooperative with ours. Other people that we plan on contacting regarding our policy are celebrities. Some of these celebrities would be Ellen Degeneres, Bonnie Somerville, Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, etc. Ellen Degeneres has donated to programs that help put an end to child abuse. Bonnie Somerville has also done this. Lady GaGa and Katy Perry are influential firgures that would most likely support our policy. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">An influential group that will surely support our policy is the Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP). The CAPP contains a program which holds safety workshops in which they educate children about physical and sexual abuse. CAPP also has a program for school guidance counselors and social workers about the dynamics of child abuse. Another group that would support our policy is Child Help. Child Help contains programs for foster care for children that get abused and children that are neglected. Our policy includes foster care for victims of abuse as well. An additional group that will back up our policy is the CAPA. This association has services and programs that are similar to ours, such as counseling. As well, doctors will be supportive of this policy, because they are getting paid by the government providing the Health Insurance for those without insurance for these 6-month visits. That will clearly increase the income these doctors are making. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The people that may not think that this policy is such a good idea are obviously the people that abuse their children or agree with the abuser's actions. They won’t think that it’s a good policy because then they will be discovered. Upon being discovered, they will also face consequences which may be severe depending on what the individual has been doing. To help us get this policy adopted many groups would help us such as the CAPP, Child Help, and the CAPA. Some groups of people that would oppose our policy would be doctors as well as the actual people that abuse children. However, despite any conflicts, we will try the best we can to make sure the injustice ends. Hopefully, we will be able to make a change that will last forever. __**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Works Cited **__ //Capp | Child Abuse Prevenion Program | Home.// Web. 05 May 2011. <http://www.cappnyc.org/index.html>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">// Child Abuse Prevention Association - CAPA //. Web. 05 May 2011. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><http://www.childabuseprevention.org/index.php>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"Council Member - District: 22." // New York City Council //. Web. 05 May 2011. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><http://council.nyc.gov/d22/html/members/home.shtml>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">"How to Start a Petition - Create a Petition - GoPetition." // Petition with GoPetition - How to Write a Petition - Online Petitions //. Web. 05 May 2011. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><http://www.gopetition.com/howtostartapetition.php>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">"Michael Gianaris." // New York State Senate //. Web. 05 May 2011. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><http://www.nysenate.gov/senator/michael-gianaris>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">// Mike Bloomberg: MikeBloomberg.com - Home //. Web. 05 May 2011. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><http://www.mikebloomberg.com/>.