Child Abuse Identification and Reporting: The Pennsylvania Requirement _____________________________
As a result of Berge’s advocacy for children’s safety, other non- governmental agencies were formed throughout the United States, and the establishment of the juvenile court was a direct result of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children [13]. By 1919, all but three states had juvenile courts. However, many of these nongovernmental agencies could not sustain themselves during the Depression [13]. The topic of child abuse and neglect received renewed interest in the 1960s, when a famous study titled “The Battered-Child Syndrome” was published [1; 4]. In the study, researchers argued that the battered-child syndrome consisted of trau- matic injuries to the head and long bones, most commonly to children younger than 3 years of age, inflicted by parents [1; 4]. The study was viewed as the seminal work on child abuse, alerting both the general public and the academic community to the problems of child abuse [1; 2]. Soon, all 50 states required physicians to report child abuse [14]. In the early 1970s, Senator Walter Mondale noted that there was no official agency that spent its energies on preventing and treating child maltreatment [13]. Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974, which targeted federal funds to improve states’ interventions for the identification and reporting of abuse [13]. In 2010, additional prevention and treatment programs were funded through CAPTA, and in 2012, the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families began to focus on protective factors to child abuse and neglect [61]. Today, child abuse and neglect are considered significant social problems with deleterious consequences. As noted, a system has been implemented in all 50 states to ensure the safety of children, with laws defining what constitutes abuse and neglect and who is mandated to report.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT Today, there is an established system in the United States to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect; however, this has not always been the case. This is not because child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment are new social phenomena. Rather, the terms “child abuse,” “child neglect,” and “child maltreatment” are relatively new, despite the fact that this social problem has existed for thousands of years [1]. Cruelty to children by adults has been documented throughout history and across cultures. In China, infant girls were often neglected during times of famine or sold during times of extreme poverty. There is also historical evidence that cultures have taken steps to stop child abuse and cruelty. For example, 6,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, orphans had their own patron goddesses for help and protection [2]. In many cases, the physical abuse of children has been linked to punishment. Throughout history, physical child abuse was justified because it was believed that severe physical punish- ment was necessary to discipline, rid the child of evil, or educate [2; 13]. It was not until 1861 that there was a public outcry in the United States against extreme corporal punish- ment. This reform was instigated by Samuel Halliday, who reported the occurrence of many child beatings by parents in New York City [2]. Sexual abuse of children, particularly incest (defined as sex between family members), is very much a taboo. The first con- certed efforts to protect children from sexual abuse occurred in England during the 16th century. During this period, boys were protected from forced sodomy and girls younger than 10 years of age from forcible rape [2]. However, in the 1920s, sexual abuse of children was described solely as an assault committed by “strangers,” and the victim of such abuse was perceived as a “temptress” rather than an innocent child [2]. The first public case of child abuse in the United States that garnered widespread interest took place in 1866 in New York City. Mary Ellen Wilson was an illegitimate child, 10 years of age, who lived with her foster parents [3]. Neighbors were concerned that she was being mistreated; however, her foster parents refused to change their behaviors and said that they could treat the child as they wished [2]. Because there were no agencies established to protect children specifically, Henry Berge, founder of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, intervened on Mary’s behalf [3]. He argued that she was a member of the animal kingdom and deserved protection. The case received much publicity, and as a result, in 1874 the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed [3]. Because of this case, every state now has a system in place for reporting child abuse. The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (now known as the Department for Human Services) was established in 1921 and part of its original intent was to care for “dependent, defective, and delinquent children” [7].
CHILD WELFARE IN PENNSYLVANIA
The Children’s Aid Society of Pennsylvania, one of the first organizations to advocate for children and their welfare in the United States, was founded in 1882 [62]. In the following years, the Children’s Aid Society was instrumental in educat- ing the public about the unsanitary and unsafe conditions in almshouses, which were sometimes used for orphaned or abandoned children. Subsequently, legislation was passed in Pennsylvania to ensure that children were not permanently placed in almshouses [62]. In the state of Pennsylvania, Act 91 was passed in 1967 and gave child welfare agencies in all counties the responsibility to investigate child abuse reports made by physicians [18]. Three years later, Act 91 was modified to include school nurses and teachers as mandated reporters [18].
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