Protecting severely abused children: Clarifying the roles of criminal justice and child welfare.

Abstract

Child abuse legislation and increased public scrutiny have made child abuse the main focus of child welfare agencies. As a criminal act, severe child abuse should be dealt with by the criminal justice system to protect both endangered children and the rights of accused parents. Thus relieved of excessive demands, child welfare agencies could refocus on treatment and services to economically disadvantaged clients. A framework for intervention in allegations of child abuse is proposed.

Canadian Child Welfare Outcomes Indicator Matrix

“…Putting too great an emphasis on protection may exclude broader family support and community development activities. Some reformers argue that the mandate to protect children has diverted child welfare from its original purpose, and that child welfare agencies should leave protection to the police and re-focus on child welfare (Lindsey & Regehr, 1993;Wharf, 1993). Others, however, see the tension between protection and well-being as an unavoidable characteristic of child welfare (Hutchinson, 1987;Maidman, 1984;McDonald, 1994;Savoury & Kufeldt, 1997).…”

Crimes Involving Child Victims: Law Enforcement Reporting to Child Protective Services in Rural Communities

“…A considerable amount of the research on LEA and CPS crossreporting has been concerned with examining the nature of the working relationship between these agencies (Hicks & Tite, 1998;Maguire, 1993) or specifying appropriate roles for child welfare and criminal justice agencies in coordinated investigations of child abuse (American Humane Association, 2003b;Jones & Cross, 2003;Lindsey & Regehr, 1993;Sheppard & Zangrillo, 1996). A few studies have examined the effect of agency co-involvement models on case outcomes, such as arrest and prosecution of offenders or the provision of treatment to victims and families (Cross, Finkelhor, & Ormrod, 2005;Tingus et al, 1996).…”

Child welfare policy and practice: The myth of family preservation.

“…Although Lindsey (Lindsey, 1994;Lindsey & Regehr, 1993) has joined me in proposing that the police, and not child welfare workers, investigate child abuse, he has emphasized the criminal prosecution of such cases. Moreover, although he set out to separate the helping from the coercive roles along a boundary between abuse and neglect, Lindsey (I 994,p.…”

“…Although Lindsey (Lindsey, 1994; Lindsey & Regehr, 1993) has joined me in proposing that the police, and not child welfare workers, investigate child abuse, he has emphasized the criminal prosecution of such cases. Moreover, although he set out to separate the helping from the coercive roles along a boundary between abuse and neglect, Lindsey (1994 , p. 167) ended up by extending criminal investigation—and the possibility of criminal prosecution—to most of what is now characterized, however vaguely or questionably, as child abuse and neglect.…”