Child Abuse and Neglect Abuse

Child Abuse and Neglect

Abuse and Neglect

When interviewing a child in a case of either child abuse or neglect, there are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration to be sure that the material covered will actually be of use for a particular case. There is no need to obtain parental permission for this interview, which may take place at any location in which the child happens to be. Furthermore, it is necessary to augment the interview with a photograph of the child at the time the interview was conducted, in order to provide documentation of the child's physical state. The purpose of these interviews, of course, is to ascertain the exact nature of the abuse or neglect that a child has been subjected to while as well as the extent of such abuse or neglect. To that end, the interviewer must attempt to find out which problems are leading to the state of neglect or abuse, and is advised to do so in a frank, conversational tone befitting of both affability and professionalism, so as not to lead the child to become reintroduced to the trauma of his or her abuse.

Depending on the circumstances of a particular case and its severity, an intake worker may contact his or her supervisor to check for any sort of history of neglect or abuse. In emergent situations, it is possible for law enforcement officials to receive a copy of the report and to go to view the child. Depending upon how much immediate danger or neglect the child is in, law enforcement may contact child protective services or take the child into child custody. In other instances, a representative from CPS can go to visit the child and interview both the child and his or her family to gauge the nature and extent of the abuse or neglect. In dealing with families, those intervening on behalf of CPS should be aware that all family members may not be responsible for abuse, and that children may be attached to their family (even if the latter is abusive). All efforts should be made to keep the family intact, within reason, because of these factors.

The team approach to successfully helping children through cases of child abuse or neglect refers to all the individuals, both professionals and otherwise, who have a vested interest in seeing these cases optimally involved. The initial reporter of the instances of abuse and neglect is often a teacher or care provider who may want to be involved in the process of aiding the child in CPS, since he or she may have seen a history of such poor care directed to the child. Additionally, the CPS intake worker, supervisor, and CPS investigator should ideally function in a unified manner. The intake worker is the one who receives the initial call for abuse and makes a risk assessment, and works directly with the reporter, while the CPS supervisor consults with the intake worker in regards to history and may send out the CPS investigator who interviews the child and his or her family. Effective cooperation between these individuals, which may be aided by law enforcement authorities, requires few egos involved nad even fewer contradictions in prescribed courses of action for the child.