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Child protection

Child protection (also called child welfare) is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect.[1][2][3][4] It involves identifying signs of potential harm. This includes responding to allegations or suspicions of abuse, providing support and services to protect children, and holding those who have harmed them accountable.[5]

For other uses, see Child protection (disambiguation).

The primary goal of child protection is to ensure that all children are safe and free from harm or danger.[4][6] Child protection also works to prevent future harm by creating policies and systems that identify and respond to risks before they lead to harm.[7]


In order to achieve these goals, research suggests that child protection services should be provided in a holistic way.[8][9][10] This means taking into account the social, economic, cultural, psychological, and environmental factors that can contribute to the risk of harm for individual children and their families. Collaboration across sectors and disciplines to create a comprehensive system of support and safety for children is required.[11][12]


It is the responsibility of individuals, organizations, and governments to ensure that children are protected from harm and their rights are respected.[13] This includes providing a safe environment for children to grow and develop, protecting them from physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and ensuring they have access to education, healthcare, and resources to fulfill their basic needs.[14]


Child protection systems are a set of services, usually government-run, designed to protect children and young people who are underage and to encourage family stability. UNICEF defines[15] a 'child protection system' as:


Under Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child , a 'child protection system' provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways this can be enabled is through the provision of quality education, the fourth of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in addition to other child protection systems. Some literature argues that child protection begins at conception; even how the conception took place can affect the child's development.[16]

is physical assault or battery on the child. Whilst an assault has some adverse consequence that the victim did not agree to (the difference between surgery and stabbing) the victim agrees to the consequences of battery but the agreement is fraudulent in some way (e.g. unnecessary surgery under false pretenses). Physical abuse is also harassment, a physical presence intended to provoke fear.

Physical abuse

is sexual assault or battery on the child. The vast majority of physical assaults are a reaction to a situation involving a specific victim. Sexual assault is predominantly perpetrator gratification against any suitable target. Sexual abuse covers the range of direct and indirect assaults (e.g. imagery) and the means of facilitation such as stalking and internet offenses.

Child sexual abuse

is defined as failure to take adequate measures to safeguard a child from harm, and gross negligence in providing for a child's basic needs. Needs are the actions to be taken to protect and provide for the child. Safeguarding is the duty of a person given the powers of responsibility for the child to take the necessary measures to protect the child. If a child is physically or sexually abused then there is an (abusive) person responsible for the assault and a (negligent) person responsible for failing to protect from the assault. In some cases they may be the same.

Child neglect

is when meeting the child's needs by taking the necessary steps to protect and provide for the child the child's wishes and feelings must be considered when deciding on delivery of the provision that best serves the child's needs. Willfully failing to provide in accordance with the child's wishes and feelings whilst it is in the child's best interests is emotional abuse (intentional infliction of emotional distress) or negligently is emotional neglect (negligent infliction of emotional distress).

Psychological abuse

International treaties[edit]

The International Labor Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency dealing with labor issues, created in 1919. It takes care also of child labor issues, in particular with conventions 138 and 182.


On 20 November 1959 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Declaration of the Rights of the Child during the Convention on the Rights of the Child.


The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is a United Nations Program headquartered in New York City, that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries.


In 2000, an agreement was reached among countries belonging to the United Nations countries about the military use of children.


The effectiveness of these programs is contested and seems limited to some.

A key part of child protection work is assessment.


A particular challenge arises where child protection professionals are assessing families where neglect is occurring. Professionals conducting assessments of families where neglect is taking place are said to sometimes make the following errors:[59]

Defense for Children International

ECPAT International

Free the Children

Friends-International

Mannerheim League for Child Welfare

Odisha State Child Protection Society

Save the Children

UNICEF

War Child

WE Charity

World Vision

Fieldston, Sara. Raising the World: Child Welfare in the American Century (Harvard University Press, 2015) 316 pp.

McCutcheon, James, 2010."Historical Analysis and Contemporary Assessment of Foster Care in Texas: Perceptions of Social Workers in a Private, Non-Profit Foster Care Agency". Applied Research Projects. Paper 332. TXstate.edu Archived 2012-03-18 at the Wayback Machine

Texas State University

UNICEF, IPU, 2004

Handbook: Child protection

Eileen Munro.2008. Effective Child Protection. Publisher-SAGE  1412946956, 9781412946957.

ISBN

Jeff Fowler. 2003. A Practitioner's Tool for Child Protection and the Assessment of Parents. Publisher Jessica Kingsley Publishers.  1843100509, 9781843100508

ISBN

Eileen Munro. 2007. Child Protection: Sage Course Companions Series. Publisher- SAGE.  1412911796, 9781412911795

ISBN

Harries et al. 2008. Reforming Child Protection. Publisher- Taylor & Francis.  0415429056, 9780415429054

ISBN

Janet Polnay. 2001. Child Protection in Primary Care. Publisher-Radcliffe Publishing.  1857752244, 9781857752243

ISBN

Chris Beckett. 2007. Child Protection: An Introduction. Publisher-SAGE.  1412920922, 9781412920926

ISBN

Gerald Cradock. Risk, Morality, and Child Protection: Risk Calculation as Guides to Practice. Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 29, No. 3, Special Issue: Reconstructing Order through Rhetorics of Risk (Summer, 2004), pp. 314–331

Leigh A. Faulconer. In the Best Interests of Children? Family Relations, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Jul., 1994), pp. 261–263

Eileen Munro.

Common errors of reasoning in child protection work

Archived 2017-08-29 at the Wayback Machine. (PDF-File, 991 KB) — United Nations Children's Fund: Progress for Children, Number 8. September 2009.

A Report Card on Child Protection

Media related to Child welfare at Wikimedia Commons