National Association of Social Workers

Child Abuse Prevention Month Brings Issue to the Fore for Social Workers

Programs Give Families Needed Support

Social workers have an opportunity to inform families about the availability of Medicaid and CHIP programs.

By Paul R. Pace, News Staff

Credit: John Michael Yanson

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This provides an opportunity to highlight multiple programs and strategies that focus on prevention: making sure children have access to health care, home visit programs for young children, and advocacy efforts that bring attention to the need for resources to support and strengthen families and to keep children safe. There are critical roles for social workers in all three domains.

Home visitation: Helping children and families has always been a major objective for the social work profession. The good news is that the Obama administration supports of child welfare initiatives and calls for funding a home visitation program for states in the 2010 fiscal year budget.

“The president’s focus on home visitation for very young children is a major step forward,” said Susan Stepleton, president and CEO of Parents as Teachers National Center based in St. Louis. Parents as Teachers is one of several evidence-based home visiting models that is being replicated around the country to prevent child abuse and neglect.

“A real positive has been the broadening of the parents’ role in ways that can not only help children very early in life, but also throughout the child’s life,” Stepleton said. “It is gratifying that a sizeable coalition of child advocacy organizations has supported this broadening approach and worked together to craft language making it possible.”

Stepleton said her organization has been pleased to discover a more inclusive attitude among administrators of child welfare/child abuse prevention programs.

“In Washington, D.C., Parents as Teachers is seeing demonstrated communication, mutual outreach and joint planning among” Head Start, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the Administration of Children and Families, Title I and others at the highest levels of government, she said. “Even in difficult economic times, setting this tone is hugely important and bodes well for children in the future. The challenge will be fostering the same level of cooperation at state levels.”

Catherine Nolan, a social worker who directs the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect in the Department of Health and Human Services, said home visitation is more effective when linked with a range of services and supports for families with young children.

“While home visiting is not a panacea for solving complex societal issues and family problems, it can serve as a vehicle for connecting families to needed services and supports,” she told the NASW News. The OCAN program’s overarching goal is to generate knowledge about the use of evidence-based home visiting programs to prevent child maltreatment, Nolan explained.

Health insurance for children: Child abuse prevention is not only a child welfare issue, but also a public health issue; ensuring access to health care and health insurance are important aspects of prevention. There are an estimated 5 million children eligible for federal health assistance who, for various reasons, are not receiving the coverage, says Kathleen Sibelius, HHS secretary.

In honor of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, social workers are being encouraged to help connect families with aid that can help their children. Nolan said social workers are ideally trained to help get the message out to those who need it most.

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From April 2010 NASW News. © 2010 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved. NASW News articles may be copied for personal use, but proper notice of copyright and credit to the NASW News must appear on all copies made. This permission does not apply to reproduction for advertising, promotion, resale, or other commercial purposes.