Order Number |
90u8ihj87uhb |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
The rise of child abuse has led to many more deaths. Deaths that could have been prevented. If child protection agents did their job and reported all incidents that they documented. What has been a life changing story for many is the story of Gabriel Fernandez.
His case was the first in prosecuting four child service agents. Jennifer Neid wrote on Woman’s Health, “There were records from Gabriel’s first-grade teacher Jennifer Garcia, who regularly called in and reported signs of abuse to one caseworker, Rodriguez, per court records.
Another caseworker had also used a computer program to estimate Gabriel’s likelihood of abuse, The Atlantic reported. The results revealed his risk was high, but the supervisor Merritt closed his case.”
As the Gabriel case shows, his death could have been prevented if the child care service agents would have got him out of his dangerous living situation. Should service agents be held accountable and serve jail time for fatal deaths? Child abuse is a crucial thing that is happening all across the world.
With having Social Workers visit the homes the many children being abuse and writing reports of the child’s living status should they be held accountable for their life if turnout was fatal. The InfoBase article wrote,” In 2014, the Associated Press reported that at least 786 children—most of them under the age of 4—had died of abuse or neglect over the previous six years, despite child protection authorities having knowledge that they were in unsafe situations.”
What this quote is saying is that even though children are under the surveillance of the child protection authorities. You have many abuse information not being recorded which results in children dying each year. The abuse should not be ignored, the social worker need more professional training.
The lives of children are on their hands. The Info Base Article writes “According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), about five children die as a result of abuse every day.” The children who do survive child abuse grow up with mental health disorders.
Despite the efforts of child protective services many fail to document important information that lead to fatalities. In Child Welfare Information Gateway, writes,” Almost three-quarters (71.8 percent) of child fatalities in FFY 2017 involved children younger than 3 years old, and children younger than 1 year old accounted for 49.6 percent of all fatalities.
Young children are the most vulnerable for many reasons, including their dependency, small size, and inability to defend themselves.” What this quote is saying is that many children that die from neglect, malnourishment, and protective services are failing to help them get out of the horrible living situation.
Many of the kids being really small and in age in size are the ones that suffer the most. Going back to the story of Gabriel, The Netflix Series. Gabriel was only eight years old when he died from abuse and neglect. They would torture him every day, making him eat cat litter, beating him, shooting him with a BB-Gun, and making him sleep in a cabinet tied up.
This case of Gabriel shows how bad he was abused and tortured at the age of 8, given that he was not as small in age, but yet very vulnerable and could not defend himself. His teachers and some family member had called child service multiple times but, the mother of Gabriel would make the social workers believe he was a liar and that he was living a good life even though they would stop signs of abuse. Because they failed to report these things and close the case Gabriel ended up dead. Children younger have no chance to escape from abuse.
The current pandemic that is the COVID-19, will make domestic violence rise for those children that have to be stuck at home with their abusive parents. In ProPublica Joaquin wrote, A child protective services worker in the Northeast sent a terrifying list of what kept her up at night: “That my families will literally run out of food, formula, diapers.
That some of them may die for lack of treatment. That some children may be injured or harmed through inadequate supervision as their desperate parents try to work. That stress may lead to more child abuse.” What this quote indicates is that many children can be going through so much abuse right know since we are in quarantine.
The only safe place for many children were school as well as the only place they probably received food. The parents can get frustrated and loose it because they have the kids all day. This life
Child Protective Agents should be held responsible for the deaths of young children that are under their care. There are the ones that are supposed to be helping and making the children that go through abusive mistreatment have faith that they will survive and get out of the situation.
Make them feel protected and listened to. But as mentioned early on the argument many fail to actually help these children. They should face jail time for withholding information that could have save a child life. It is the law to report any abusive mistreatment. “The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), a milestone in child protection laws, was passed in 1974 after Senator Walter Mondale (D, Minnesota) led congressional hearings on child abuse and neglect.
The act required all states to ensure immunity and confidentiality for those who report suspicions of child abuse and provided states with funding to investigate accusations of child abuse and develop prevention programs.” Protecting children from maltreatment is primarily the responsibility of child welfare programs administered at the state and local levels.
These agents should know right from wrong and if they get away with cases under their supervision resulting in deaths they should get some type of punishment or they will continuously keep repeating the overlooked cases they just pass on. The reason why this happens is because the agents are not trained properly and they receive multiple cases a day. To get through all of they and clear them out they do not do their job right and do a poor job to help these children in need.
Child deaths can be preventable. They are not merely the result of incompetency or excessive caseloads, but rather the direct and predictable consequence of a social service delivery system that places a higher priority on preservation of the family unit and rehabilitation of the offender.
They focus on cases they should many times taking children away from good parents who got called on for a missunderstanment. Throughout this essay examples have been given and pointed out on why CPS worker or any person witnessing a child being abuse should be charged with time. This needs to stop cases like eight year old Gabriel can be prevented.
Work Cited
Nied, J. (2020, March 18). Gabriel Fernandez’s Social Workers Have Another Court Date Coming Up. Retrieved May 01, 2020, from https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a31741999/gabriel-fernandez-social-workers/
“Child Abuse: Should child services agents and the general public be held more accountable for instances of child abuse?” Issues & Controversies, Infobase, 27 Jan. 2016, https://0-icof-infobaselearning-com.libcat.sanjac.edu/recordurl.aspx?ID=2097. Accessed 26 Apr. 2020.
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2019). Child abuse and neglect fatalities 2017: Statistics and interventions. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau