Child Welfare

• -Was common in ancient societies
• -Was a response to poverty and the burden of too many female children
• -Was used to control population and ensure that the populace would remain strong and healthy
• -took in form of abandonment

• Brought a new way of using children in the workforce
• Children were more plentiful than adults
• Children could be paid very little
• Child bring in extra income and parents felt that their children owed them the wages they earned

• An arrangement whereby a child would be given over to an individual who could teach the child (usually male) a trade.
• Some children were well treated but others were not (Oliver Twist- undertaker mistreated him, exposed him to fine points of death, work long hours in unreasonable circumstances)

the only facilities for african american children were jails or reform schools even though were not delinquents.

• applies to parents who recognize their need to parent but are unclear how to do so
• Parents define their role too narrowly leaving some family needs unmet.
• Ex: a father may feel that as long as he financially provide for his children he met his obligations. He expected his 10 year old daughter to take care of younger siblings, clean house and cook meals.

• Describes a parents inability to adequately provide for his or her children due to:
• -emotional immaturity
• -ignorance
• -illness
• -physical disability
• -mental retardation
• -drug addiction

• Mother-infant bonding is important in the formation of individual
• Attachment is deep enduring connection established between a child and caregiver in first several years of life
• Profoundly influences every component of human condition--mind, body, emotions, relationships and values

• Procreation
• Socialization
• Enculturation
• Protect
• Financial and emotional support
• Basic needs
• Medical and educational needs
• Interpreting the world to the child and the child to the world
• Families who meet society's expectations are accorded the right to privacy, and they carry out their roles with minimal societal intervention

• Father figure expected to be breadwinner
• Mother figure role of maintaining the home
• Today: no clear cut, both parents work outside the home therefore families are more apt to find their own ways of taking care of the family tasks

• Schematic diagram of the family's relationship system, in form of a genetic tree, usually three generations
• It can give both the helper and family a quick and fairly comprehensive view of what is occurring in the family
• They can also help clients recognize that they are part of dysfunctions so may initiate for them to make changes

• Criminal gangs-dedicated to illegal activities ex: theft, fencing stolen articles, drug trafficking
• Conflict gangs-organized along racial line, defend their turf against rival gangs
• Retreatist gangs- dedicate themselves to getting high on drugs, involve themselves with drugs for financial gain
• Cult/occult gangs- join one another in devil worship or belief in some cult dogma

• Poor health care
• No health insurance
• Mental health
• Hunger and malnutrition
• Inadequate housing
• Unsafe neighborhoods
• Lower educational outcomes
• Inadequate schools

• Causes physical and physiological defects
• Low intelligence
• mental retardation
• physical abnormalities (facial features)
• hyperactivity
• impaired development
• failure to accurately distinguish cause and effect

• children had a right to a permanent arrangement ASAP in order to lessen their trauma and endure normal development
• First way to offer better services to their birth families and prevent the need for other placements

• Crisis homes- keep for limited time while other arrangements are made
• Family boarding homes- longer periods--months or even years
• Small group home- a family that takes in small groups of children, often siblings or adolescents
• Specialized foster home- deal with particular population of children. Specialized foster parents are better trained, receive more support, and are better paid
• Kinship care- care of children by a relative, close family friend, godparent, tribe or clan member