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The problems facing social services for children, youth and families
Chapter 1
The Problems Facing Social Services for Children, Youth and Families
In the course of carrying out the study, we clarified just what in fact is occurring in states and localities that has led some people to talk of Q crisis in child welfare. While what follows in the Chapter are our own research conclusions, we did find that many of the field’s leaders shared many of these perceptions and had begun in their respective organizations to discuss implications. Beat ‘em up, Lock ‘em up, or Throw ‘em Awayf A repeated theme in interviews around the country is that the social service system has become so constricted that children can gain access to help only if they have been abused or severely neglected, are found delinquent, or run away. Doorways for “less serious” or differently defined problems are closed. Even for these situations, of course, the help may not be forthcoming, or if it is, may not be adequate. Child Protective Services (CPS) (covering physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect reports, investigations, assessments, and resultant actions) have emerged as the dominant public child and family service, in effect driving the public agency and often taking over child welfare entirely. In state after state, county after county, public officials described their child and family services as if there were only one function, child protection; or, as if that function were so important that any other service TAdapted from the titlt of an Arizona report by Dean Jesse F. McClure.
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The Problems Facing Social Services for Children, Youth and Families
In the course of carrying out the study, we clarified just what in fact is occurring in states and localities that has led some people to talk of Q crisis in child welfare. While what follows in the Chapter are our own research conclusions, we did find that many of the field’s leaders shared many of these perceptions and had begun in their respective organizations to discuss implications. Beat ‘em up, Lock ‘em up, or Throw ‘em Awayf A repeated theme in interviews around the country is that the social service system has become so constricted that children can gain access to help only if they have been abused or severely neglected, are found delinquent, or run away. Doorways for “less serious” or differently defined problems are closed. Even for these situations, of course, the help may not be forthcoming, or if it is, may not be adequate. Child Protective Services (CPS) (covering physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect reports, investigations, assessments, and resultant actions) have emerged as the dominant public child and family service, in effect driving the public agency and often taking over child welfare entirely. In state after state, county after county, public officials described their child and family services as if there were only one function, child protection; or, as if that function were so important that any other service TAdapted from the titlt of an Arizona report by Dean Jesse F. McClure.
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