(Dekalb and Fulton County, Georgia)
Section 1
Child neglect and abuse has been defined as an action, or failure to act by a guardian or a caretaker, which culminates in emotional or physical harm, death, sexual exploitation or abuse, or that action which poses serious harm or risk to a child. A study by the world health organization revealed that over 57,000 children were homicide victims in the year 2000 alone. These numbers have always been on an upward trajectory since then. The real extent of the problem remains a mystery because not many child deaths are autopsied and routinely investigated. Most fatalities resulting from child abuse affect children in the age bracket 0-4 years with majority reports showing head injuries, intentional suffocation and abdominal injuries (CDC, 2013). The report revealed that between five and ten percent of men and about twenty percent of women were victims of sexual abuse when children. Schools and other institutions are grounds where child abuse is carried out in form of kicking, punching, beating and hitting.
In the United States alone, the financial costs associated with child maltreatment over a lifetime were found to be in excess of 124 billion dollars per year according to a recent CDC study. The study was conducted using data of 579000 non-fatal and 1740 fatal cases of child maltreatment in the year 2008 (CDC, 2013). The results revealed that each death due to child neglect and abuse had a lifetime cost to the nation of over 1.3 million dollars most of it being the child’s total earnings in the course of his life. Adding on that, it was found that the survivors of child maltreatment cost the nation 210012 dollars in their earnings and treatment which was similar in cost with treatment of expensive diseases such as stroke (EPP, 2013). In Dekalb and Fulton County, cases of child neglect and abuse have been on the rise over the last few years just like in the rest of the United States. In a recent article by your4state, a man is said to have faced serious charges of sexual abuse in Fulton County after he broke several ribs leading to hospitalization of a one-year old child. In another recent article by publicopiniononline, a man and a woman were charged in the same county for neglecting and physically abusing a two-year old girl.
Section 2
Fulton Family Care Network was developed in 2009 to give care to family members and specifically children and youth who are residents of Fulton County. The organization’s mission is to be involved in the provision of culturally competent and high quality health and behavioral services to citizens of Fulton County who are most in need of them. Prior to the establishment, it had been noted that there was an escalating number of child neglect cases and soon after the cases transformed to those of child abuse and in some isolated cases homicides were reported (Tuttle, 2013). The County Government of Fulton the resolved to finance the group thenceforth in its duty to keep the county and citizens safe and at ease in their homes regardless of their age. The major objective of the family care network was to offer quality services for children in Fulton County. The Fulton Family Care Network is operated and owned by the Fulton Local Government. In the financial year 2013, the Fulton Local Government budgeted a total of seven million dollars for the network for the undertaking of the usual businesses of the network which is to provide family care solutions and services to members of Fulton County (WHAGG, 2013).
On matters of organization, the structure is as follows:
The initiatives of the network are offering the citizens of Fulton increased access to service delivery and care. Other initiatives are the engagement in various collaborative activities such as early intervention, prevention, family support and intensive treatment.
Strengths
Fulton Family Care Network is backed and owned by Fulton County Government. With this regard, it is guaranteed to a large extent of financing by the county government every financial year and it falls due. This is a big advantage for the network because it is very hard for such programs to depend on charity alone in times of economic downturns and recessions. The Fulton Family Care Network is co-ordnated which gives it an upper hand in the dissemination and discharge of services to residents of Fulton (EPP, 2013). The family care and network have linguistic and cultural competence and hence their services are able to reach more people.
Weaknesses
Despite the campaigns to expose child abusers, the reporting rate by the residents still remains low and some of them do not recognize some punishments to children as wrong. There is widespread fear of social threats if one exposes another to authorities due to child abuse. Although the government partially finances the family care network, there remains much need for finance in order to conduct bigger programs and sensitize more people on the matter throughout the county. Another discouraging fact is that the number of volunteers keeps on reducing because people are more financial inclined and demand to do jobs where income is guaranteed.
Opportunities
Despite the reducing number of volunteers, the number of collaborative partners has kept on growing in the recent past. This has been greatly aided by the use of the internet unlike on the past. Fulton family care network have been increasing in recognition which will eventually as to the discipline.
Threats
Section 3
In the planning and solving of the problem of child neglect and abuse, the local government and the general public have had various cases of cooperation and conflict with regard to this issue. Incidents of cooperation include the establishment and running of Fulton Family Care Network. Cases of child neglect are reported promptly by neighbors and other members of the society. The organization has engaged in fundraising activities such as organizing marathons. The community is prompt in paying domestic taxes which are then used as programs to help minimize child abuse in Fulton (CDC, 2013).
The main sources of conflict between to local government and the community is tax evasion. Tax evasion denies funds to the local authorities who in turn reduce the budget awarded to Fulton Family Care Network. There is also lukewarm response by the community to contribute to charity by way of raisin in the sun (EPP, 2013). There is also immigration into the county hence diluting any effects of the programs with regard to the reduction of child abuse.
Section 4
The efforts by Fulton County Government to deal with the problem of child abuse and neglect have been partially successful. Its failures have mainly resulted from lack of cooperation from citizens. Among the successes of the urban government is the widespread training of various grown-ups in parenting. It has conducted and funded home visitation programs n order to both evaluate and check for child neglect and abuse. It provides some form of therapy which is administered to those who have been victims or witnesses. Remedies such as arrest and prosecution have worked well in minimizing such incidents.
In my opinion, child protection services should also be offered by the urban government for timely prevention of abuse. The authorities should also adopt voluntary and mandatory reporting systems to ensure that as many perpetrators are brought to book as possible.
References
CDC (2013) Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect Rival Other Major Public Health Problems
Retrieved
EPP (2013) Report Child Abuse
Retrieved from: http://www.eastpointpolice.org/ReportChildAbuse.htm
Fulton Family Care Network (2013) WELCOME TO THE FULTON FAMILY CARE NETWORK!
Retrieved from: http://fultoncountyga.gov/bhdd-fulton-family-care
Jim Tuttle (2013) Two arrested for alleged child abuse in Fulton County
Retrieved from: http://www.publicopiniononline.com/localnews/ci_19364757
WHAG News (2013) Fulton County Man Faces Child Abuse Charges
Retrieved from: http://www.your4state.com/story/fulton-county-man-faces-child-abuse-charges/d/story/5PseMUqZX06mmXBdbMhecQ
