Child Abuse: History, Laws, and Prevention in the U.S.

Introduction

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010), all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories have mandatory child abuse and neglect reporting laws that require certain professionals and institutions to report suspected maltreatment. Though each state has its own definitions of child abuse, federal legislation describes it as "any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm."

Most states recognize four major types of maltreatment: neglect, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, and sexual abuse. Although any of these forms may be found separately, they can also occur in combination.

Historical Background of Child Protective Services

An estimated 3.3 million referrals, involving the alleged maltreatment of approximately 6.0 million children, were received by child protective services (CPS) agencies in 2009. Of these referrals, 61.9 percent were screened in for a CPS response. One quarter of those CPS responses determined that at least one child was a confirmed victim of abuse or neglect.

William Patton (2011) reports that child protection policies of the early American colonists closely mirrored those of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain. Colonial remedies of placing pauper children into involuntary apprenticeships or into poorhouses initially followed English legal customs, but colonial theorists soon expanded court jurisdiction over juveniles to include contexts beyond poverty. Calvinist notions of poverty as idleness and sin permitted courts to expand into normative definitions of children's best interests.

The state of New York, in 1875, established the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SPCC) to help enforce child protection laws. However, since the SPCC was composed primarily of "wealthy, white men, almost all of them Protestant," who hired middle-class men as family investigators, the families targeted were largely poor immigrant families judged by middle-class standards and vague criteria such as improper parental guardianship. The numerous competing reform movements and children's aid societies of the mid-to-late 1800s focused on the child as a member of a family group rather than as an individual, and most emphasized removing children from their own families and placing them in different home environments.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the tide had turned away from family separation and toward family preservation. The twentieth century brought a dramatic shift away from private child protective services in favor of governmental control by public agencies authorized under both federal and state statutory schemes. In 1899, the first juvenile court was established in Illinois to provide for the care and custody of children in a manner equivalent to that of their parents. By 1920, all but three states had a juvenile court system. However, the goal of family reunification was rarely realized by the early juvenile courts because few services were made available to assist poor, uneducated parents in addressing the conditions that led to state intervention in the first place.

Modern child dependency court development was shaped by several U.S. Supreme Court decisions. In Meyer v. Nebraska (1923), the Court held that parents have a fundamental constitutional interest in rearing their children. In Lassiter v. Department of Social Services (1981), the Court held that, under certain circumstances, parents are entitled to court-appointed attorneys when facing involuntary termination of parental rights in child protection proceedings. In Santosky v. Kramer (1982), the Court held that the state bears the burden of demonstrating, by clear and convincing evidence, that termination of parental rights is necessary to protect children. As a result, local juvenile courts no longer had unbridled discretion to informally and permanently separate parents and children. However, the Court only ruled in cases involving permanent severance of parental rights; states remain free to provide fewer due-process protections in temporary child protection cases.

In 1980, Congress passed the first comprehensive federal child protective services act — the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 — which focused on economic incentives for states to substantially decrease the length and number of foster care placements and required specific family reunification services. In 1997, Congress passed the Adoption and Safe Families Act to address many deficiencies in the 1980 act, shifting the focus from family reunification to expeditious permanency for children in adoptive placements. All state child protection systems adopted the federal guidelines as a requirement for receiving federal subsidies.

The Scope and Impact of Child Abuse

According to Levi and Portwood (2011), over 5.8 million children in the U.S. were referred for suspected abuse in 2007, with 735,000 confirmed cases and at least 1,586 deaths. There is reason to believe these numbers significantly underestimate the true incidence; one large study found that 21% of women and 31% of men reported having been physically abused as children. It is well established that child abuse occurs in every community and at all levels of society.

Consequences of child abuse include bruises, lacerations, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic somatic disorders, brain injury, and both acute and chronic medical conditions. Recent estimates for the U.S. place the total direct costs related to child abuse at over $33 billion annually, with indirect costs adding an additional $70 billion.

Conclusion: Prevention Strategies

1) Be a nurturing parent — children need to know they are special, loved, and capable of following their dreams. 2) Help a friend, neighbor, or relative; being a parent is not easy, so offering a helping hand gives parents time to rest or spend time together. 3) Help yourself — when things pile up, take time out before reaching the point of feeling overwhelmed or out of control. 4) Do not become frustrated if your baby cries. 5) Get involved by assisting community efforts to develop services that meet the needs of healthy children and families. 6) Promote programs at school that teach children, parents, and teachers strategies for staying safe. 7) Help develop parenting resources at your local library. 8) Monitor your child's television and video viewing, since exposure to violent behavior can harm children. 9) Volunteer at a local child abuse prevention program. 10) Report suspected abuse or neglect.

Education, community involvement, and cooperation are significant factors in the effort to prevent children from suffering maltreatment. By working together at every level of society, communities can reduce the incidence of child abuse and create safer environments for all children.