Child Welfare Policy Past, Present, and Future Essays

The second account of a changing stance toward children’s rights was evolution alongside women’s rights. Before this time, women and children were seen as unimportant under the law, whereas a father was given almost total control over all matters regarding his wife and children. If a father was violent or neglectful, society simply turned their shoulder to it. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, laws pertaining to the family system began to change. A new law recognized the equal rights of fathers and mothers with the mother’s rights reigning over the fathers in regards to the children. Also, the legal system began viewing children as important to the future of society, therefore â€Å"appropriate objects of the court’s†¦show more content†¦By the year 1967, all U.S. states had child abuse reporting laws. â€Å"Child abuse reporting laws and enhanced awareness of child abuse produced an increase in intervention† (Myers, 2013 ). As reporting laws came into affect, more and more cases of child abuse and neglect were shown. By the mid 1970s, over 60,000 child abuse cases were reported and the extremely high rate of children in foster care alarmed government officials. In 1980, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act (AACWA) was passed. This act required every state to make reasonable efforts in keeping children with their families, and when removing the child was not avoidable, the child was required to have a plan to be placed back in the home or have their parents’ rights revoked. For the children whom returning home was not an option, Congress offered financial incentives for adoption. This effort to preserve the families was a main objective of AACWA. An influential investigation pertaining to this was done by Henry S. Mass and Richard E. Engler, as explained by Sribnick (2011). They concluded that many children were living a majority of their childhood years in foster care and ins titutions. Their findings showed that if a child stayed in foster care for more than a year and a half, it was not likely that he or she would ever be reunited with his or her family or be adopted. In response to this, the Child Welfare League of America lobbied for child welfare workers to considerShow MoreRelatedThe United States Of America Ranks Twenty-Three In Science,1098 Words   |  5 Pageseducation of the youth of Americans. This policy paper will cover the past, present, and what might be the future of education policies in America. Firstly, the paper will cover the moment when the United States government saw the necessity of creating a Department of Education. This department will primarily be focused on making policies regarding education. 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