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Definition:
The Child Welfare Information Gateway defines child abuse and neglect by Federal law as, (1) "Any recent act or failure to act on the part or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation" or (2) "an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm". as defined by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 2010.

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How it Works:
- First a report is made
- Next, the report is either screened or screened out.
---Screened in means there is sufficient evidence that suggest an investigation is warranted.
---Screened out means there is not enough information to be follow up.
-If the report is screened in then CPS caseworkers are required to respond within a certain amount of time. The CPS worker will speak to the parents and the child.  Also, they will speak to whoever the child has been in contact with recently.
- When a court case is opened course of action is determined on state policy, severity, an assessment of the child's safety, risk of future abuse, services available, and whether the child is removed from the home.
- Cases are typically ranked as "no or low risk", "low to moderate risk", or "moderate to high risk".
- Risk level determines what supports are needed.
- Cases are then reviewed to see if the child can be reunified with the family or is additional placement is needed.

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Caregivers are offered support and treatment services or are required to take part in services that will keep the child safe. In cases of low risk, some supports provided include: (1) parent education, (2) child care, (3) counseling, (4) safety planning.
More severe cases police are called to investigate and criminal charges may be filed.

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Children who experience maltreatment are at a higher risk for: (1) physical and mental health issues (2) disadvantages in economic and employment outcomes.

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" The goal of child welfare is to promote the well-being, permanency, and safety of children and families by helping families care for their children successfully or, when that is not possible, helping children find permanency with kin or adoptive families" (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013, p. 7).

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Economics
-Funding state child welfare services involves funding streams from many sources, including federal, state and local money.
- The largest source of funding dedicated to child welfare comes from the federal government via formula grants or as federal reimbursement for eligible programs like foster care. The largest sources are Titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act. Title IV-B includes the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program and the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. Title IV-E includes Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, Guardianship Assistance and the John H. Chaffee Foster Care Independence programs.

- Some states have been granted Title IV-E Waivers, which allow for flexible use of Title IV-E funds to operate innovative demonstration projects to improve the safety, permanency and well-being of children in out-of-home care, and in some instances work to prevent the need for foster care altogether.

-States also tap other federal funding streams, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) and Medicaid. These sources are considered nondedicated, meaning they are not required to be used for child welfare services but may be used for those purposes if the state chooses.

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The Children’s Bureau is the first federal agency within the U.S. Government to focus exclusively on improving the lives of children and families.
Since its creation by President Taft in 1912, the bureau has tackled some of our nation’s most pressing social issues, including:

Infant and maternal death

Child labor

Orphanages

Child health and recreation

Delinquency and juvenile courts

Family economic security

Abused and neglected children

Foster care

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Conservatism:
--Social: (Religion, rights, far right, conservatism) holds that a higher moral or spiritual order rules over nature and society and that this higher wisdom dwarfs human reason (Blau, 2014) .
--Economic: (laissez-faire conservatism, neoliberalism) views human nature as a set of innate qualities intrinsic to the individual (Blau, 2014).

Liberalism: an outgrowth of laissez-faire conservatism and shares its view of human nature, with one major difference, broke with economic conservatism (Blau, 2014).

Social Democracy: regards individuals as rational and autonomous but also as altruistic, dependent, and interdependent (Blau, 2014)

Radicalism: (socialism, communism, Marxism) see nature as socially constructed through the historic interplay of human biology, the physical environment, and human society (Blau, 2014)

Feminism: seeks to account for the experience of women as subordinate to men (Blau, 2014)
--Liberal: accepts the beliefs of standard liberalism but argues that its acceptance of the view of women as irrational by nature, therefore inferior contradicts liberalism's mandate to treat all people the same, given that all humans possess the same capacity for reason (Blau, 2014)
--Cultural: male and female differences and the subordination of women are rooted in nature (Blau, 2014) patriarchy socially constructs human nature (Blau, 2014)
--Socialist: an effort to incorporate the class analysis of standard radicalism and understanding of patriarchy introduced by cultural feminism (Blau, 2014)

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--Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
-- Children's Aid Society
-- The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)
--The Social Security Act
-- Child Welfare Services Program
-- Aid to Dependent Children Program
-- Foster Care and Adoption Assistance program
-- Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF)
-- Medicaid
--Title IV-B and Title IV-E
-- Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997
-- Child and Family Service
(Courtney, 2013)

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In the mid-19th century, societal attitudes regarding parental authority and the needs of children had changed to the extent that religious and civic leaders began to seriously question the wisdom of allowing children to remain in what came to be considered “unfit” homes.

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Advocacy. (2016). Retrieved August 16, 2017, from https://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/issues/child_welfare.asp

Blau, J. & Abramovitz, M. (2014). The dynamics of social welfare policy. (3rd or 4th ed.) New York: Oxford Press.

Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). Retrieved August 16, 2017, from https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/can/defining/federal/

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2013). How the child welfare system works. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau.

Children's Bureau : An Office of the Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved August 16, 2017, from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/about/history

Courtney, M. (2013). Child Welfare: History and Policy Framework, "Encyclopedia of Social Work." Retrieved from: http://socialwork.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.001.0001/acrefore-9780199975839-e-530

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(1) In 2014, there was about 702,000 children who experienced maltreatment.  Children under the age of 1 year old was the most likely to experience maltreatment.
(2) Of the 702,000 children identified, an estimated 147,462 were in foster care.
(3) It is estimated 1,580 children who have experienced abuse or neglect die each year.  Experts believe the number of deaths due to abuse and neglect is higher than what has been reported.