Child Abuse and the Failures of the Department of Social Services
Since Dr. Kempe's article "The Battered Child Syndrome" was published in 1962, the problem of child abuse has received serious national attention. The laws protecting children have been updated, and there has been a substantial increase in public awareness of child abuse. Additionally, there has been a sizable increase in the number of children residing in child care as a result of court rulings regarding parental unfitness. As a consequence, the children are removed from their parents' homes and placed under state custody. In regards to the issue at hand, the DSS can be said to have considerably failed in their job to protect the foster child from further child abuse.
Negligence of Social Worker
First, the social worker chose to ignore the child's complaints about being mistreated by the Joneses. The social worker took it as an exaggeration of the claims, since the child had gone through the same parental abuse by his biological parents. Secondly, the social worker again dismissed the claims of mistreatment from the boy's teacher who had taken note of the distressed child's agony. Matters of child abuse are very delicate, and how DSS officials handle information that comes their way determines whether or not the child gets help. In this case, the social worker ignored these claims and is as such liable for negligence.
Factors to Consider
Factors that may not be primary to consider can include the following. First, it can be claims of mistreatment only shortly after being placed in a new foster home. Second, it can be claims of child abuse without any physical evidence or witnesses to prove that the allegations are true. Third, it can be claims of mistreatment from the child who has been to two or more foster homes, as this child may only be interested in being placed in a particular family with high social standards.
