Social work: Child Welfare

When The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, the three main goals of this legislation involve the children who are in or are going to be in the foster care. These three goals are safety, well-being, and permanency. These goals are of the upmost importance when it comes to the foster care system because it gives the children an opportunity to settle into their new environment with stability and comfort in the most traumatic times. The first and most important goal is safety. The children who are placed in foster care are usually children who have been removed from an unsafe situation, and are placed with (hopefully) family members, or trained individuals on the foster care system (foster parents, group homes, etc.) need to be in a safe environment. A safe environment can include limited to no contact with the abusers themselves, or complete removal from the situation itself. Well-being is another important aspect of the foster care system that provides the children with options to better themselves and to acquire counseling while also providing support to help the child understand what has happened. The final aspect of the system is permanency. While it is important to know the cold is safe and their well being is taken care of, we have to be aware that the child is not going to be stable until they are placed in a permanent residence which is hopefully with a family member or a foster home. If the child is placed in a foster home it is a hopeful outcome that the foster family be willing to adopt the child if the situation arises.

A legislation was passed called the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974 P.L. 93-247, which is, in my opinion, the most important piece of legislation passed for child welfare. This legislation provides assistance to the States for programs that help prevent and identify child abuse. It authorized limited government research into child abuse prevent and treatment. It also created the National Center on Child