POLICY

PART  one

This week, you learned a lot about the history of the United States Child Welfare system and the many laws that have been created throughout history to protect children and to establish the supports and services (like DCF) that currently exist. You learned that we have come a long way since the first documented case of child abuse, the Case of Mary Ellen Wilson. Over the rest of the semester, you will also learn that, even with our best efforts, the system is still not perfect. We can see evidence of the system’s imperfections throughout Etched in Sand. For your individual assignment this week, you will focus on this.

By now, you have read through Chapter 8 in Etched in Sand. At this point, you have learned quite a lot about Regina’s early life and the experiences she and her siblings had as they lived through abuse, neglect, homelessness, foster care, isolation, missed school, and poverty. In these first several chapters, there are multiple examples of the ways the children were mistreated by their mother and the impact this had on them.  There are also a number of places in these chapters where the child welfare system seemed to have failed them – where they “slipped through the cracks” of the system or where adults in their lives could perhaps have done more to help them. For this individual assignment, you will focus your attention on the missed opportunities where you see the children slip through the cracks – where people in their lives or the system itself could have done something more to help the kids and either improve or remove them from the unsafe and unhealthy situation they were in.

Describe several examples (at least 3) of this that stood out to you in the book. For each example you give, be sure to focus on the following questions:

1) What happened and to whom (Regina, one of her siblings, all of them)?

2) What was done (or not done) that created a situation where they “slipped through the cracks” or the people in the lives or the system itself did more harm than good?

3) What opportunities were missed to help the kids? Who missed the opportunity to help?

4) What (in your opinion) should have been done instead?

*** Be specific and be sure to include details and quotes directly from the book to support your thoughts.

PART 2

ANSWER THOSE QUESTION

1- What do health care programs have in common? How are they different? Describe the major public health care programs; Medicare, Medicaid and S-CHIP. What do they have in common? How are they different?

2-What are the major factors driving health care cost increases in the US? The cost of American health care has trended upward for many years, since 1992. What are the major factors driving this upward trend? What if any steps can be taken to decelerate the rate of health care costs?

3-Did Mary Ellen’s’ advocates make a difference in the quality of care for children in America? Explain your response. Why did Eta Wheeler try to get advice from the director of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NYSPCA) on behalf of Mary Ellen? What do you think prompted her to do so? Was that the right decision? Why or why not?

4- Was Charles Loring Brace’s approach of moving children from their homes in poor urban areas to far households in the Midwest effective? Would the policy  be considered “best practice” today? Did Braces practice lead to improve child welfare services? Explain.

5- What are the effects of child poverty on child abuse and neglect? If child poverty has an impact on child abuse and neglect, why is this so? What are some of the policy solutions the US may implement to prevent further child abuse and neglect?

6- Why it is so difficult for this country to develop an effective child protective policy? Be sure to include Sec, legal, educational, political, parental rights, children’s rights, and family privacy issues in your response

7- What does the criminal justice system look like in your state? Students should check the website of their state’s correction department and answer the following questions: a) How many facilities are online for adults? Juveniles?; b) What is the department budget?; c) Trace the amount of the budget over the past five years. Did it increase? Decline? Remain constant?; d. How were the funds used? Were facilities improved? New facilities put on line?; e) Did the inmate population grow? If yes, what population groups grew the most? The fastest?; What were the major offenses? Describe the characteristics of the majority of the offenders

8- Do you think there is likelihood that the prison-industrial complex will sustain its growth? (use the information used for out-of-class assignment # 1). Why or why not? What trends are evident, and what do they suggest in this regard? What does the “new penology” have to do with the privatization of prisons

9-How do you account for the country’s acceptance of the social phenomenon that places many blacks in the criminal justice system? Use the information used for out-of- claassignment # 1 to analyze class disparities in the criminal justice system. What does it mean? What are the underlying social forces behind this phenomenon?

10-Do you think the War on Drugs is effective? Why or why not? What are the consequences of the War on Drugs on the criminal justice system? How does the War on Drugs contribute to racial disparities in the criminal justice system? What are alternatives to current drug policy in the US vis-à-vis the criminal justice system?

PART 3

ONE PARAGRAPHS

This week, you will learn about the history of the United States Child Welfare system. You will see where the system began with the first documented case of child abuse. And, you will learn about the progressive evolution of the system to better meet the needs of children and respond to social trends and social problems that impact child welfare. You will also learn about the many laws that have been established over time to build this system, to protect children, and establish the supports and services that currently exist. Our Discussion Board this week will focus on this.

View the two videos that are listed under this week’s Learning Materials, The Stranger Who Cared and History of Child Welfare. Then, review the child welfare policies in the documents About CAPTA and Major Federal Legislation Concerned with Child Welfare. Think carefully about what you learn from each resource. Then, post your response to the following questions to the Discussion Board. Be sure to refer back to the learning materials and include specific information and quotes from them to support what you post. Your response should be at least a paragraph long, but may be longer.

1) What about the videos on the history of child welfare most stood out to you, surprised you, or made you think? and why?

2) How did these resources help you to better understand and learn new things about the history of child welfare in our country and our efforts to progressively develop a system to take care of, support, and serve children in need of help, care, and protection?

3) Which child welfare policy stood out to you as particularly important? What is the policy and why do you think it is particularly important in shaping or improving our child welfare system and responding to the needs of children in the system?