Communitysocial service
SelectedIssue
Childneglect and abuse
Descriptionof Community Resource Selected
Selectedresource: Joint Council on Adolescents and Children
On30 August 2007, key stakeholders and leaders from South Californiaconvened a meeting to discuss on how to develop infrastructure thatwill enhance services for families and youth (Chaffin etal.,2014). Nevertheless, the meeting was aimed at coming up with aresource that will help in reduce issues of children abuse andneglect, which was common in South California. As a resource, JointCouncil on Adolescents and Children was established to offer freeonline training to community members to assist in reducing the issueof child neglect and abuse.
Discusshow the resources provide secondary, primary and tertiary servicesfor couples and families
JointCouncil on Adolescents and Children tries to promote positivebehaviors or actions while stopping negative actions or behaviors inthe community (Finkelhor, 2014). Nevertheless, in child abuse andneglect interventions, protective factors are encouraged whilereducing risk factors to promote the well-being of the family andcouples. Prevention of child abuse and neglect must occur along acontinuum, which includes secondary, primary and tertiary preventionservices.
Primaryprevention services
Thisresource provides primary prevention, which consists of activitiestargeting the entire community. In addition, these activities arerequired to impact couples and families before any allegations ofneglect and abuse. Such services include providing an educationprogram for parent and support groups, which focus on development ofchildren, the parenting roles and responsibilities andage-appropriate expectations (Chaffin etal.,2014). Secondly, the resources offer programs for familystrengthening that promotes the ability family to access availableservices that support positive interactions among the members of thefamily (Walker & Shinn, 2012). Lastly, it offers campaign onpublic awareness that provides information on where and how to reportsuspected child neglect and abuse.
Secondaryprevention services
Secondaryprevention services target families and couples that have high-riskfactors that are likely to cause child abuse and neglect (Finkelhor,2014). Furthermore, it address factors which are likely to result inchild abuse and neglect including special needs, low income,substance abuse, single parents and low parental age.
Moreover,this resource helps in establishing parent support group which helpsthe parents to handle daily stress and meet the responsibilities andchallenges of parenting (Finkelhor, 2014). Nevertheless, it alsohelps in establishing home visiting programs that provide assistanceand support to new and expecting mothers in their homes (Walker &Shinn, 2012). The resource also offers referral and informationservice to families and couples within substance abuse treatment andthose living in low-wage neighborhoods.
TertiaryPrevention Services
Thisconsists of actions targeting couples and families that already haveunconfirmed or confirmed child neglect and abuse reports (Chaffin etal.,2014). Furthermore, such families need intervention and qualify forchild welfare program services. Moreover, this resource providesmental health care services to abused children to improve couple andfamily functioning and improvement. It also provides services forintensive family preservation offered by trained mental healthcounselors to help couples or the family to overcome child neglectand abuse challenges (Finkelhor, 2014). Lastly, it offers parentmentorship program using non-abusive or stable family as a role modelto impact positive changes in affected families.
ExistingGaps
JointCouncil on Adolescents and Children is one of the most effectiveresources in addressing child abuse and neglect in our communitytoday. However, this resource contains numerous information gaps thatmust be addressed to improve its efficiency (Chaffin etal.,2014). Some of the gaps include that, the resource does not giveenough statistics to prove that child abuse and neglect is indeed achallenge in South California (Finkelhor, 2014). Furthermore, theresource does not provide the strategy it intends to use to ensurethat all the community members are included in this collaboration.Lastly, the resource does not provide strategies for implementing itsprovided primary, tertiary and secondary prevention services.
Addressingthe Gaps
Ifgaps found in this resource are addressed, the resource will beeffective enough in dealing with the child abuse and neglect in thesociety. Such can be done by conducting research to get exactstatistics about the number of the children abused in SouthCalifornia. Moreover, providing funds for implementing all preventingmeasures of this resource will eliminate gaps on implementingstrategies as it will be easier to make follows on child welfare inthe society (Chaffin etal.,2014). Lastly, all community members should be made aware of theexistence of child abuse and neglect and the advantages of buildingan active community that respects the rights of children.
Inconclusion, child abuse and neglect is a common challenge in oursociety, which needs collaboration of all people to eliminate it.People need to understand that a child’s welfare is theresponsibility of every individual in the society, and everyoneshould take part in ensuring rights of the children are respected.
Reference:
Chaffin,M., Kelleher, K., & Hollenberg, J. (2014). Onset of physicalabuse and neglect: Psychiatric, substance abuse, and social riskfactors from prospective community data. Childabuse & neglect, 20(3),191-203.
Finkelhor,D. (2014). The international epidemiology of child sexual abuse.Childabuse & neglect, 18(5),409-417.Walker,H. M., & Shinn, M. R. (2012). Structuring school-basedinterventions to achieve integrated primary, secondary, and tertiaryprevention goals for safe and effective schools. Interventionsfor academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches,1-25.
Resource:https://www.scchildren.org/prevention_learning_center/preventing_child_abuse_and_neglect/