Family protective factors ● Supportive family environment and social networks. ● Concrete support for basic needs. ● Nurturing parenting skills. ● Stable family relationships. ● Household rules and child monitoring. ● Parental employment. ● Access to healthcare and social services. ● Caring adults outside the family who can serve as role models or mentors. Community protective factors Communities can support parents and take responsibility for preventing abuse by providing ● Parental education. ● Adequate housing. support services such as counseling, foster parent support training and group support sessions, child abuse hotlines, and respite care. A special note : With the growing opioid crisis, more children are at risk for neglect and abuse. In New York State, statistics show an increase in adults abusing opioids and the effects on children. In Florida, in 2015, it was reported that more than 50% of all foster home placements for children 6 years or younger were because of opioid abuse, and there has been a 32% increase in the rate of removal from the home because of parental neglect related to opioid abuse (Quality Improvement Center for Research-Based Infant-Toddler Court Teams, 2018). Evidence-based practice Research has shown that the most common form of child abuse in the United States is the child being left alone at home without adult supervision. This is referred to as supervision neglect. In fact, all types of neglect account for an estimated 75% of all child abuse reports made to child welfare authorities (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2017). Social workers must be especially alert to signs and symptoms of neglect, which may not be as readily apparent as the signs of physical abuse.
● Financial problems: A risk factor related to the family’s inability to provide sufficient financial resources to meet minimum needs. ● Domestic violence: Any abusive, violent, coercive, forceful, or threatening act or word inflicted by one member of a family or household on another—the caregiver may be the perpetrator or the victim of the domestic violence. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2017) Other risk factors ● Parents’ lack of understanding of children’s needs, child development, and parenting skills. ● Parental history of child abuse or neglect. ● Mental health issues, including depression in the family. ● Parental characteristics such as young age, low education, single parenthood, large number of dependent children, and low income. ● Nonbiological transient caregivers in the home, for example, mother’s male partner. ● Parental thoughts and emotions that tend to support or justify maltreatment behaviors. Family risk factors ● Social isolation. ● Family disorganization, dissolution, and violence, including intimate partner violence. ● Parenting stress, poor parent–child relationships, and negative interactions. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019) ● Concentrated neighborhood disadvantages: High poverty and residential instability, high unemployment rates, high density of alcohol outlets, and poor social connections. Protective factors According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are protective factors that social workers should be aware of and advocate for in the social worker’s community (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). Community risk factors ● Community violence.
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