Nancy Whittier
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195325102
- eISBN:
- 9780199869350
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195325102.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter looks at countermovement organizing, focusing on the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF). It highlights the struggles over the social construction of knowledge that came with the ...
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This chapter looks at countermovement organizing, focusing on the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF). It highlights the struggles over the social construction of knowledge that came with the rise of the FMSF and its allies, and analyzing the political and cultural reasons for the movement's gains. It traces the frames used by the FMSF and analyzes the success of the frame emphasizing “memory science” and the unreliability of “recovered memories.” The chapter discusses the countermovement's tactics and its coalitions across the political spectrum, including with conservative, anti‐feminist, and progressive groups. It argues that the social construction of knowledge is an important part of social movements.Less
This chapter looks at countermovement organizing, focusing on the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF). It highlights the struggles over the social construction of knowledge that came with the rise of the FMSF and its allies, and analyzing the political and cultural reasons for the movement's gains. It traces the frames used by the FMSF and analyzes the success of the frame emphasizing “memory science” and the unreliability of “recovered memories.” The chapter discusses the countermovement's tactics and its coalitions across the political spectrum, including with conservative, anti‐feminist, and progressive groups. It argues that the social construction of knowledge is an important part of social movements.
John E. B. Myers
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195169355
- eISBN:
- 9780199893348
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195169355.003.0004
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Crime and Justice
This chapter describes the formation of the modern child protection system. The most critical date in the process was 1962, when pediatrician Henry Kempe and his colleagues published their seminal ...
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This chapter describes the formation of the modern child protection system. The most critical date in the process was 1962, when pediatrician Henry Kempe and his colleagues published their seminal article describing “The Battered Child Syndrome.” Kempe agitated for a more robust response to child abuse, and became an effective spokesperson for the renaissance of interest in child abuse and neglect in the 1960s and 1970s. The law of every state requires professionals to report suspicions of child abuse to authorities, and this chapter describes the creation of reporting laws in the 1960s. Prior to the 1970s, the federal government played a useful but minor role in child welfare and protection. In 1974, Congress assumed a leadership role with passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). CAPTA was followed by additional federal laws, especially the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, and the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. By the 1980s, the government-funded and -operated child protection familiar to us today was in place.Less
This chapter describes the formation of the modern child protection system. The most critical date in the process was 1962, when pediatrician Henry Kempe and his colleagues published their seminal article describing “The Battered Child Syndrome.” Kempe agitated for a more robust response to child abuse, and became an effective spokesperson for the renaissance of interest in child abuse and neglect in the 1960s and 1970s. The law of every state requires professionals to report suspicions of child abuse to authorities, and this chapter describes the creation of reporting laws in the 1960s. Prior to the 1970s, the federal government played a useful but minor role in child welfare and protection. In 1974, Congress assumed a leadership role with passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). CAPTA was followed by additional federal laws, especially the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, and the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. By the 1980s, the government-funded and -operated child protection familiar to us today was in place.
Mical Raz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781469661216
- eISBN:
- 9781469661230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661216.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Chapter 2 focuses on the work of child welfare researchers who emphasized the roles of socioeconomic and racial disparities as important risk factors for child abuse. It recreates a historical moment ...
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Chapter 2 focuses on the work of child welfare researchers who emphasized the roles of socioeconomic and racial disparities as important risk factors for child abuse. It recreates a historical moment in which addressing poverty was depicted as a means of “primary prevention” of abuse. It also examines the history of the New York Foundling Hospital’s Crisis Nursery in the early 1970s, a respite care service designed by pediatrician, Vincent Fontana, to be a tool to prevent child abuse in struggling families. While numerous well-respected researchers and practitioners advocated for the importance of addressing structural inequalities in the prevention of child abuse, this approach was never accepted as mainstream. This chapter examines how and why such approaches were marginalized, and at what expense.Less
Chapter 2 focuses on the work of child welfare researchers who emphasized the roles of socioeconomic and racial disparities as important risk factors for child abuse. It recreates a historical moment in which addressing poverty was depicted as a means of “primary prevention” of abuse. It also examines the history of the New York Foundling Hospital’s Crisis Nursery in the early 1970s, a respite care service designed by pediatrician, Vincent Fontana, to be a tool to prevent child abuse in struggling families. While numerous well-respected researchers and practitioners advocated for the importance of addressing structural inequalities in the prevention of child abuse, this approach was never accepted as mainstream. This chapter examines how and why such approaches were marginalized, and at what expense.
Mical Raz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781469661216
- eISBN:
- 9781469661230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661216.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter examines the widespread acceptance of mandatory reporting as a powerful tool in combating child abuse. It follows the implementation of CAPTA (1973) throughout the country, and the ...
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This chapter examines the widespread acceptance of mandatory reporting as a powerful tool in combating child abuse. It follows the implementation of CAPTA (1973) throughout the country, and the unsuccessful attempt to legislate national standards for reporting child abuse in the mid 1970s. The chapter examines local and national statistics to examine the impact of expanding mandatory reporting, and questions why this tool was viewed as so powerful. In particular, it asks why the increase in reports was seen to be the pertinent measure of success, rather than measures of child well-being. The chapter follows the trajectory of mandatory reporting over the decades, and examines its long-lasting appeal, despite having significant unintended, but certainly foreseeable, consequences.Less
This chapter examines the widespread acceptance of mandatory reporting as a powerful tool in combating child abuse. It follows the implementation of CAPTA (1973) throughout the country, and the unsuccessful attempt to legislate national standards for reporting child abuse in the mid 1970s. The chapter examines local and national statistics to examine the impact of expanding mandatory reporting, and questions why this tool was viewed as so powerful. In particular, it asks why the increase in reports was seen to be the pertinent measure of success, rather than measures of child well-being. The chapter follows the trajectory of mandatory reporting over the decades, and examines its long-lasting appeal, despite having significant unintended, but certainly foreseeable, consequences.
Mical Raz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781469661216
- eISBN:
- 9781469661230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661216.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Chapter One examines the role of the advocacy group Parents Anonymous in defining, broadening and disseminating perceptions of child abuse. This group was highly influential and played a pivotal role ...
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Chapter One examines the role of the advocacy group Parents Anonymous in defining, broadening and disseminating perceptions of child abuse. This group was highly influential and played a pivotal role in shaping Senator Walter Mondale’s (D-MN) approach to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. The chapter also examines the group’s use of federal funds and multiple allegations of fiscal irregularities. The chapter ends in an examination of Jolly K’s, the group’s founder, use of racist language that culminated in her termination from the group, tragically leading to her suicide.Less
Chapter One examines the role of the advocacy group Parents Anonymous in defining, broadening and disseminating perceptions of child abuse. This group was highly influential and played a pivotal role in shaping Senator Walter Mondale’s (D-MN) approach to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. The chapter also examines the group’s use of federal funds and multiple allegations of fiscal irregularities. The chapter ends in an examination of Jolly K’s, the group’s founder, use of racist language that culminated in her termination from the group, tragically leading to her suicide.
Nancy Whittier
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190235994
- eISBN:
- 9780190236038
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190235994.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change, Gender and Sexuality
Chapter 3 shows how ideologically diverse activists and legislators converged around a narrow, single-issue opposition to child sexual abuse and defined it as a politically neutral issue. The chapter ...
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Chapter 3 shows how ideologically diverse activists and legislators converged around a narrow, single-issue opposition to child sexual abuse and defined it as a politically neutral issue. The chapter shows how three challenges to this consensus emerged and were resolved: a 1981 Republican attempt to kill CAPTA; 1992‒1996 feminist organizing around child custody cases and False Memory Syndrome Foundation attempts to weaken CAPTA; 2000 forward, expansions of sex offender registration and notification requirements. Narrow neutrality facilitated the passage of legislation and pulled policy toward criminal justice and away from feminist challenges to the patriarchal family and conservatives’ emphasis on preserving the traditional family. Federal engagement shifted over time from a focus on violence within the family to a focus on child pornography and the control of sex offenders; although framed in terms of dangerous strangers, the new focus affected the larger number of familial offenders as well. Legislators and advocates downplayed race and gender while constructing an implicitly white victim, producing predominantly white offenders because of the prevalence of familial abuse. Experiential and expert knowledge and shared emotional rituals produced and maintained narrow neutrality in Congress, activist and professional groups, and media representations.Less
Chapter 3 shows how ideologically diverse activists and legislators converged around a narrow, single-issue opposition to child sexual abuse and defined it as a politically neutral issue. The chapter shows how three challenges to this consensus emerged and were resolved: a 1981 Republican attempt to kill CAPTA; 1992‒1996 feminist organizing around child custody cases and False Memory Syndrome Foundation attempts to weaken CAPTA; 2000 forward, expansions of sex offender registration and notification requirements. Narrow neutrality facilitated the passage of legislation and pulled policy toward criminal justice and away from feminist challenges to the patriarchal family and conservatives’ emphasis on preserving the traditional family. Federal engagement shifted over time from a focus on violence within the family to a focus on child pornography and the control of sex offenders; although framed in terms of dangerous strangers, the new focus affected the larger number of familial offenders as well. Legislators and advocates downplayed race and gender while constructing an implicitly white victim, producing predominantly white offenders because of the prevalence of familial abuse. Experiential and expert knowledge and shared emotional rituals produced and maintained narrow neutrality in Congress, activist and professional groups, and media representations.
Mical Raz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781469661216
- eISBN:
- 9781469661230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661216.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter introduces definitions of child maltreatment and the prevalence of child abuse investigations. The introduction also maps the early history of both public and medical interest in the ...
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This chapter introduces definitions of child maltreatment and the prevalence of child abuse investigations. The introduction also maps the early history of both public and medical interest in the intentional harm to children.Less
This chapter introduces definitions of child maltreatment and the prevalence of child abuse investigations. The introduction also maps the early history of both public and medical interest in the intentional harm to children.
Ross E. Cheit
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199931224
- eISBN:
- 9780199355853
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931224.003.0009
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
The final chapter examines recent developments, addressing three questions: What is the significance of well-known sex abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church and Pennsylvania State University? ...
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The final chapter examines recent developments, addressing three questions: What is the significance of well-known sex abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church and Pennsylvania State University? How has the word of a child fared since 1995? What are the continuing effects of the academic battle over child suggestibility? The chapter argues that recent scandals are not easily generalized. Although there have been some signs of overreacting to sex offenders who have finished their prison sentences, there is also evidence of continuing underreaction to sexual abuse in general. Moreover, those who originally argued that child suggestibility claims belong only in cases with extremely coercive interviewing are now applying those arguments in cases with strong corroboration and without coercive interviews. There has also been a surprising effort to undermine the professionals who provide front-line services to victims of child sexual abuse. Thus the witch-hunt narrative continues to endanger children.Less
The final chapter examines recent developments, addressing three questions: What is the significance of well-known sex abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church and Pennsylvania State University? How has the word of a child fared since 1995? What are the continuing effects of the academic battle over child suggestibility? The chapter argues that recent scandals are not easily generalized. Although there have been some signs of overreacting to sex offenders who have finished their prison sentences, there is also evidence of continuing underreaction to sexual abuse in general. Moreover, those who originally argued that child suggestibility claims belong only in cases with extremely coercive interviewing are now applying those arguments in cases with strong corroboration and without coercive interviews. There has also been a surprising effort to undermine the professionals who provide front-line services to victims of child sexual abuse. Thus the witch-hunt narrative continues to endanger children.
Alice Knox Eaton, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, and Shirley A. Stave (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781496828873
- eISBN:
- 9781496828927
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496828873.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
American Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s 11th novel, God Help the Child, released in 2015, set in contemporary times, explores the relationship between a financially successful, beautiful young Black ...
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American Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s 11th novel, God Help the Child, released in 2015, set in contemporary times, explores the relationship between a financially successful, beautiful young Black woman with a haunted past and an intelligent disaffected young Black man who is equally alienated from his past. This collection of essays, edited by Morrison scholars Alice Knox Eaton, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, and Shirley A. Stave, and including essays by well-known Morrison critics Evelyn Schreiber, Mar Gallego, Susana Vega, Anissa Wardi, and Justine Tally, explores the novel’s themes and tropes through a multiplicity of critical and theoretical approaches.
The first of the collection’s three sections focuses on the issue of trauma in the novel. The various essays featured here delve into the thorny topic of childhood neglect and sexual abuse, considering how the main characters carry the burden of the pain they experienced into adulthood. These essays probe the healing achieved in the novel through various approaches, all focused on arriving at an understanding of Morrison’s sense of what healthy adulthood entails.
The collection’s second section considers Morrison’s narrative choices in her novel, concentrating on the formal experimentation that occurs within the text. The authors in this section reflect upon the myriad ways in which Morrison's novel relies upon intertextual play in the creation of a fictional cosmology that engages the reader on multiple levels.
Essays included in the collection's final section turn attention to God Help the Child in terms of the novel's signifying relation with earlier Morrison texts, bringing into sharp focus the predominant concerns throughout Morrison's fictional canon, from her debut work of fiction, The BluestEye, until the present.Less
American Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s 11th novel, God Help the Child, released in 2015, set in contemporary times, explores the relationship between a financially successful, beautiful young Black woman with a haunted past and an intelligent disaffected young Black man who is equally alienated from his past. This collection of essays, edited by Morrison scholars Alice Knox Eaton, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, and Shirley A. Stave, and including essays by well-known Morrison critics Evelyn Schreiber, Mar Gallego, Susana Vega, Anissa Wardi, and Justine Tally, explores the novel’s themes and tropes through a multiplicity of critical and theoretical approaches.
The first of the collection’s three sections focuses on the issue of trauma in the novel. The various essays featured here delve into the thorny topic of childhood neglect and sexual abuse, considering how the main characters carry the burden of the pain they experienced into adulthood. These essays probe the healing achieved in the novel through various approaches, all focused on arriving at an understanding of Morrison’s sense of what healthy adulthood entails.
The collection’s second section considers Morrison’s narrative choices in her novel, concentrating on the formal experimentation that occurs within the text. The authors in this section reflect upon the myriad ways in which Morrison's novel relies upon intertextual play in the creation of a fictional cosmology that engages the reader on multiple levels.
Essays included in the collection's final section turn attention to God Help the Child in terms of the novel's signifying relation with earlier Morrison texts, bringing into sharp focus the predominant concerns throughout Morrison's fictional canon, from her debut work of fiction, The BluestEye, until the present.
Mical Raz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781469661216
- eISBN:
- 9781469661230
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661216.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
In the early 1970s, a new wave of public service announcements urged parents to “help end an American tradition” of child abuse. The message, relayed repeatedly over television and radio, urged ...
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In the early 1970s, a new wave of public service announcements urged parents to “help end an American tradition” of child abuse. The message, relayed repeatedly over television and radio, urged abusive parents to seek help. Support groups for parents, including Parents Anonymous, proliferated across the country to deal with the seemingly burgeoning crisis. At the same time, an ever-increasing number of abused children were reported to child welfare agencies, due in part to an expansion of mandatory reporting laws and the creation of reporting hotlines across the nation. Here, Mical Raz examines this history of child abuse policy and charts how it changed since the late 1960s, specifically taking into account the frequency with which agencies removed African American children from their homes and placed them in foster care. Highlighting the rise of Parents Anonymous and connecting their activism to the sexual abuse moral panic that swept the country in the 1980s, Raz argues that these panics and policies—as well as biased viewpoints regarding race, class, and gender—played a powerful role shaping perceptions of child abuse. These perceptions were often directly at odds with the available data and disproportionately targeted poor African American families above others.Less
In the early 1970s, a new wave of public service announcements urged parents to “help end an American tradition” of child abuse. The message, relayed repeatedly over television and radio, urged abusive parents to seek help. Support groups for parents, including Parents Anonymous, proliferated across the country to deal with the seemingly burgeoning crisis. At the same time, an ever-increasing number of abused children were reported to child welfare agencies, due in part to an expansion of mandatory reporting laws and the creation of reporting hotlines across the nation. Here, Mical Raz examines this history of child abuse policy and charts how it changed since the late 1960s, specifically taking into account the frequency with which agencies removed African American children from their homes and placed them in foster care. Highlighting the rise of Parents Anonymous and connecting their activism to the sexual abuse moral panic that swept the country in the 1980s, Raz argues that these panics and policies—as well as biased viewpoints regarding race, class, and gender—played a powerful role shaping perceptions of child abuse. These perceptions were often directly at odds with the available data and disproportionately targeted poor African American families above others.
Roger Davidson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474441193
- eISBN:
- 9781474459877
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474441193.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Scottish Studies
Chapter 3 examines child sexual abuse in early twentieth-century Scotland and the competing discourses surrounding its prosecution. At the heart of the study is a set of High Court cases of sexual ...
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Chapter 3 examines child sexual abuse in early twentieth-century Scotland and the competing discourses surrounding its prosecution. At the heart of the study is a set of High Court cases of sexual assault upon children involving the aggravated offence of communicating VD, and the role played by the enduring superstition that ‘having connection with a virgin’ was a cure for the affliction. The chapter traces how this ‘pernicious delusion’ figured in medical testimony to legal proceedings and government enquiries throughout the period. It explores the impulses and constraints shaping the response of the law to ‘child outrage’. The impact of these cases on the campaign by feminists, rescue workers, and purity activists to amend the criminal law and the conduct of investigation and trial in respect to sexual offences against women is documented, as is the growing importance of forensic medicine in securing convictions. Continuing resistance is revealed within the medical profession and judiciary, as well as within the family and local community, to recognising child sexual abuse. The chapter illustrates the many layers of denial that operated to deny the child victims justice and the extent to which the legal process stigmatised them as sexual dangers to be institutionalised..Less
Chapter 3 examines child sexual abuse in early twentieth-century Scotland and the competing discourses surrounding its prosecution. At the heart of the study is a set of High Court cases of sexual assault upon children involving the aggravated offence of communicating VD, and the role played by the enduring superstition that ‘having connection with a virgin’ was a cure for the affliction. The chapter traces how this ‘pernicious delusion’ figured in medical testimony to legal proceedings and government enquiries throughout the period. It explores the impulses and constraints shaping the response of the law to ‘child outrage’. The impact of these cases on the campaign by feminists, rescue workers, and purity activists to amend the criminal law and the conduct of investigation and trial in respect to sexual offences against women is documented, as is the growing importance of forensic medicine in securing convictions. Continuing resistance is revealed within the medical profession and judiciary, as well as within the family and local community, to recognising child sexual abuse. The chapter illustrates the many layers of denial that operated to deny the child victims justice and the extent to which the legal process stigmatised them as sexual dangers to be institutionalised..
Margaret Spinelli
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199676859
- eISBN:
- 9780191918346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199676859.003.0030
- Subject:
- Clinical Medicine and Allied Health, Psychiatry
Child abuse is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and other countries. It is the second leading cause of death among children in the US. All 50 States, the District of ...
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Child abuse is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and other countries. It is the second leading cause of death among children in the US. All 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the US Territories have mandatory child abuse and neglect reporting laws that require certain professionals and institutions to report suspected maltreatment to a child protective services (CPS) agency. Four major types of maltreatment are considered: neglect, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, and sexual abuse (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2010). Once an allegation or referral of child abuse is received by a CPS agency, the majority of reports receive investigations to establish whether or not an intervention is needed. Some reports receive an alternative response in which safety and risk assessments are conducted, but the focus is on working with the family to address issues. Investigations involve gathering evidence to substantiate the alleged maltreatment. Data from reports on child abuse is derived from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), which aggregates and publishes statistics from state child protection agencies. The first report from NCANDS was based on data for 1990. Case-level data include information about the characteristics of reports of abuse and neglect that are made to CPS agencies, the children involved, the types of maltreatment that are alleged, the dispositions of the CPS responses, the risk factors of the child and the caregivers, the services that are provided, and the perpetrators (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2010). During 2010, the NCANSDS reported that an estimated 3.3 million referrals estimated to include 5.9 million children were received by CPS agencies. Of the nearly 2 million reports that were screened and received a CPS response, 90.3% received an investigation response and 9.7% received an alternative response (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2010). Of the 1,793,724 reports that received an investigation in 2010, 436,321 were substantiated; 24,976 were found to be indicated (likely but unsubstantiated); and 1,262,118 were found to be unsubstantiated. Three-fifths of reports of alleged child abuse and neglect were made by professionals.
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Child abuse is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and other countries. It is the second leading cause of death among children in the US. All 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the US Territories have mandatory child abuse and neglect reporting laws that require certain professionals and institutions to report suspected maltreatment to a child protective services (CPS) agency. Four major types of maltreatment are considered: neglect, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, and sexual abuse (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2010). Once an allegation or referral of child abuse is received by a CPS agency, the majority of reports receive investigations to establish whether or not an intervention is needed. Some reports receive an alternative response in which safety and risk assessments are conducted, but the focus is on working with the family to address issues. Investigations involve gathering evidence to substantiate the alleged maltreatment. Data from reports on child abuse is derived from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), which aggregates and publishes statistics from state child protection agencies. The first report from NCANDS was based on data for 1990. Case-level data include information about the characteristics of reports of abuse and neglect that are made to CPS agencies, the children involved, the types of maltreatment that are alleged, the dispositions of the CPS responses, the risk factors of the child and the caregivers, the services that are provided, and the perpetrators (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2010). During 2010, the NCANSDS reported that an estimated 3.3 million referrals estimated to include 5.9 million children were received by CPS agencies. Of the nearly 2 million reports that were screened and received a CPS response, 90.3% received an investigation response and 9.7% received an alternative response (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2010). Of the 1,793,724 reports that received an investigation in 2010, 436,321 were substantiated; 24,976 were found to be indicated (likely but unsubstantiated); and 1,262,118 were found to be unsubstantiated. Three-fifths of reports of alleged child abuse and neglect were made by professionals.
Cara Diver
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781526120113
- eISBN:
- 9781526146670
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7765/9781526120120.00009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter analyses the role that children played in marital violence. A large proportion of women who took their husbands to court for marital violence also complained that their husbands had ...
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This chapter analyses the role that children played in marital violence. A large proportion of women who took their husbands to court for marital violence also complained that their husbands had physically harmed or mistreated their children. For these women, harm to their children was a source of anger and anguish, and many expressed a great deal of concern for their children’s wellbeing. This chapter also asks how children affected women’s responses to marital violence. Most of the abused wives in this study were also mothers, and thus had to confront their husbands’ violence not just as wives but also as the guardians of children. Although motherhood made women more vulnerable to abuse, it also often strengthened their resolve against violence as they sought to protect their children.Less
This chapter analyses the role that children played in marital violence. A large proportion of women who took their husbands to court for marital violence also complained that their husbands had physically harmed or mistreated their children. For these women, harm to their children was a source of anger and anguish, and many expressed a great deal of concern for their children’s wellbeing. This chapter also asks how children affected women’s responses to marital violence. Most of the abused wives in this study were also mothers, and thus had to confront their husbands’ violence not just as wives but also as the guardians of children. Although motherhood made women more vulnerable to abuse, it also often strengthened their resolve against violence as they sought to protect their children.
Sarah-Anne Buckley
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719087660
- eISBN:
- 9781781706275
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719087660.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
The Cruelty Man represents the first comprehensive account of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in Ireland, from its foundations in 1889, to the passing of ...
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The Cruelty Man represents the first comprehensive account of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in Ireland, from its foundations in 1889, to the passing of responsibilities to the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) in 1956. In both Britain and Ireland, the NSPCC was at the forefront of the child protection movement, yet the history of the Society in Ireland has not been fully addressed. This book aims to fill this vacuum. It provides a study of the Society, while also utilising it as a vehicle to examine the treatment of poverty-stricken children and families by the State. More broadly, it contains a comprehensive history of child welfare from the introduction of the Poor Law in 1838 to the publication of the Kennedy Report in 1970. It addresses issues surrounding institutionalisation, welfare, family violence, compulsory education, child abuse and the role of charity in the provision of welfare. Based on research of the available records of the NSPCC archive, and court records, the text also explores changing concepts of childhood. It will appeal to both an academic and general audience, as it uses case studies of families investigated by the Society and the State. It will be essential to students of Irish social history, gender studies, social work and social policy. More generally it will interest those observing recent reports into child abuse in State institutions and in particular the history of Ireland’s industrial school system. The foreword by Vincent Browne also demonstrates its contemporary relevance.Less
The Cruelty Man represents the first comprehensive account of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in Ireland, from its foundations in 1889, to the passing of responsibilities to the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) in 1956. In both Britain and Ireland, the NSPCC was at the forefront of the child protection movement, yet the history of the Society in Ireland has not been fully addressed. This book aims to fill this vacuum. It provides a study of the Society, while also utilising it as a vehicle to examine the treatment of poverty-stricken children and families by the State. More broadly, it contains a comprehensive history of child welfare from the introduction of the Poor Law in 1838 to the publication of the Kennedy Report in 1970. It addresses issues surrounding institutionalisation, welfare, family violence, compulsory education, child abuse and the role of charity in the provision of welfare. Based on research of the available records of the NSPCC archive, and court records, the text also explores changing concepts of childhood. It will appeal to both an academic and general audience, as it uses case studies of families investigated by the Society and the State. It will be essential to students of Irish social history, gender studies, social work and social policy. More generally it will interest those observing recent reports into child abuse in State institutions and in particular the history of Ireland’s industrial school system. The foreword by Vincent Browne also demonstrates its contemporary relevance.
Wendie Ellen Schneider
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300125665
- eISBN:
- 9780300216554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300125665.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Nearly fifty years passed between the reform allowing parties to testify in civil cases and the Criminal Evidence Act of 1898 that allowed defendants to testify in criminal cases. This delay was a ...
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Nearly fifty years passed between the reform allowing parties to testify in civil cases and the Criminal Evidence Act of 1898 that allowed defendants to testify in criminal cases. This delay was a byproduct of the reform and experimentation that characterized the Victorian legal system’s approach to the possibility of witness deceit. The Act also marks the triumph of cross-examination as the guarantor of veracity in the courtroom. Several highly publicized in which the respectable defendants were accused of scandalous crimes helped drive the Act’s passage.Less
Nearly fifty years passed between the reform allowing parties to testify in civil cases and the Criminal Evidence Act of 1898 that allowed defendants to testify in criminal cases. This delay was a byproduct of the reform and experimentation that characterized the Victorian legal system’s approach to the possibility of witness deceit. The Act also marks the triumph of cross-examination as the guarantor of veracity in the courtroom. Several highly publicized in which the respectable defendants were accused of scandalous crimes helped drive the Act’s passage.
Kevin H. Wozniak
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780195393583
- eISBN:
- 9780190603946
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393583.003.0008
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Many authors see child abuse as a very important cause of violent behavior. In this chapter we examined published evidence on the association between physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and trauma ...
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Many authors see child abuse as a very important cause of violent behavior. In this chapter we examined published evidence on the association between physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and trauma and behavior outcomes in victims. The comprehensive review indicates that all forms of abuse, as well as indicators of trauma, are associated with violent offending, but they are also consistently associated with nonviolent offending. The findings also strongly indicate that physical abuse experience is more prominent among violent offenders than nonviolent offenders, however, leading to questions about aspects of physical abuse that lead to violent behavior in victims, rather than general antisociality.Less
Many authors see child abuse as a very important cause of violent behavior. In this chapter we examined published evidence on the association between physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and trauma and behavior outcomes in victims. The comprehensive review indicates that all forms of abuse, as well as indicators of trauma, are associated with violent offending, but they are also consistently associated with nonviolent offending. The findings also strongly indicate that physical abuse experience is more prominent among violent offenders than nonviolent offenders, however, leading to questions about aspects of physical abuse that lead to violent behavior in victims, rather than general antisociality.
Mical Raz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781469661216
- eISBN:
- 9781469661230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661216.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The book ends by questioning the legacy of child welfare policies since the late 1960s. A deliberate attempt to avoid implicating socioeconomic status and race in child abuse led to the creation of ...
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The book ends by questioning the legacy of child welfare policies since the late 1960s. A deliberate attempt to avoid implicating socioeconomic status and race in child abuse led to the creation of our current child welfare system, which disproportionately intrudes into the lives of low income and minority families. Raz emphasizes the importance of recognizing the complex history of our current child welfare system in any attempts at future reform. Raz argues for a complete reform of our child welfare system, which would separate child abuse investigations from the provision of servicesLess
The book ends by questioning the legacy of child welfare policies since the late 1960s. A deliberate attempt to avoid implicating socioeconomic status and race in child abuse led to the creation of our current child welfare system, which disproportionately intrudes into the lives of low income and minority families. Raz emphasizes the importance of recognizing the complex history of our current child welfare system in any attempts at future reform. Raz argues for a complete reform of our child welfare system, which would separate child abuse investigations from the provision of services
Carl Purcell
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781447348764
- eISBN:
- 9781447348818
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447348764.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families
Comparative research has identified two broad types of child welfare system. In child protection systems the principal remit of welfare agencies is to identify and respond to actual or potential ...
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Comparative research has identified two broad types of child welfare system. In child protection systems the principal remit of welfare agencies is to identify and respond to actual or potential incidences of child abuse or maltreatment. In contrast family service systems are characterised by a stronger spirit of partnership between the state and families and an emphasis on working to prevent the need for coercive state intervention. This book examines the development of children’s services reform in England over recent decades to explain a shift from family service polices towards a narrower child protection approach. Successive waves of reform in England have invariably been framed as responses to high-profile child abuse inquires and media generated scandal including the cases of Victoria Climbié and Baby P. However, this book challenges the idea that it is the apparent failings of local agencies, including child and family social workers, that drive successive waves of reform. Instead, it turns the spotlight on the process of policy-making at the national level, and highlights the role played by party political leaders and senior government ministers in driving reform. The book is informed by 45 interviews with key decision-makers including ministers, senior civil servants, children’s charity leaders, local authority directors and social work researchers.Less
Comparative research has identified two broad types of child welfare system. In child protection systems the principal remit of welfare agencies is to identify and respond to actual or potential incidences of child abuse or maltreatment. In contrast family service systems are characterised by a stronger spirit of partnership between the state and families and an emphasis on working to prevent the need for coercive state intervention. This book examines the development of children’s services reform in England over recent decades to explain a shift from family service polices towards a narrower child protection approach. Successive waves of reform in England have invariably been framed as responses to high-profile child abuse inquires and media generated scandal including the cases of Victoria Climbié and Baby P. However, this book challenges the idea that it is the apparent failings of local agencies, including child and family social workers, that drive successive waves of reform. Instead, it turns the spotlight on the process of policy-making at the national level, and highlights the role played by party political leaders and senior government ministers in driving reform. The book is informed by 45 interviews with key decision-makers including ministers, senior civil servants, children’s charity leaders, local authority directors and social work researchers.
Alice Knox Eaton, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, Shirley A. Stave, Alice Knox Eaton, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, and Shirley A. Stave (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781496828873
- eISBN:
- 9781496828927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496828873.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
In her eleventh novel, God Help the Child, Toni Morrison returns to several of the signature themes explored in her previous work: pernicious beauty standards for women, particularly African American ...
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In her eleventh novel, God Help the Child, Toni Morrison returns to several of the signature themes explored in her previous work: pernicious beauty standards for women, particularly African American women; mother-child relationships; racism and colorism; and child sexual abuse. As with Morrison’s other work, the story takes on mythic qualities, and the larger-than-life themes lend themselves to allegorical and symbolic readings that resonate in light of both contemporary and historical issues.Less
In her eleventh novel, God Help the Child, Toni Morrison returns to several of the signature themes explored in her previous work: pernicious beauty standards for women, particularly African American women; mother-child relationships; racism and colorism; and child sexual abuse. As with Morrison’s other work, the story takes on mythic qualities, and the larger-than-life themes lend themselves to allegorical and symbolic readings that resonate in light of both contemporary and historical issues.
Alisa Bierria and Colby Lenz
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479805648
- eISBN:
- 9781479888733
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479805648.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law
The integral relationship between carceral violence and gender violence has led to the criminalization of thousands of survivors. The criminal prosecution of domestic violence survivors for being ...
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The integral relationship between carceral violence and gender violence has led to the criminalization of thousands of survivors. The criminal prosecution of domestic violence survivors for being unable to prevent their batterers’ abuse of their children, also known as “failure to protect,” reflects this punitive trend. This chapter recommends a paradigm shift from a “mitigating factors” strategy that attempts to provide explanatory context for survivors’ “failure,” to a structural critique that exposes the ideological foundations of “failure to protect.” Considering two case studies, it examines how these prosecutions create a spatial continuity of violence between domestic space and court space, revealing how the violence of punitivity and confinement becomes violence that is co-threatened by batterers and court actors. It proposes Battering Court Syndrome (BCS) as a framework from which to theorize the criminalization of survivors, a political diagnosis of the institutionalization of domestic violence, and a possible legal defense strategy.Less
The integral relationship between carceral violence and gender violence has led to the criminalization of thousands of survivors. The criminal prosecution of domestic violence survivors for being unable to prevent their batterers’ abuse of their children, also known as “failure to protect,” reflects this punitive trend. This chapter recommends a paradigm shift from a “mitigating factors” strategy that attempts to provide explanatory context for survivors’ “failure,” to a structural critique that exposes the ideological foundations of “failure to protect.” Considering two case studies, it examines how these prosecutions create a spatial continuity of violence between domestic space and court space, revealing how the violence of punitivity and confinement becomes violence that is co-threatened by batterers and court actors. It proposes Battering Court Syndrome (BCS) as a framework from which to theorize the criminalization of survivors, a political diagnosis of the institutionalization of domestic violence, and a possible legal defense strategy.