Marcus Markee Davis Jr. was a 1 year old boy who was murdered by his mother, Shannon Merriman whom was 22. Child protection services was first called to her home in June 2010 when there was neglect, domestic violence and substance abuse suspected. Then in August 2010, they were called again to the home where there was domestic violence suspected. The cases was looked upon and in-home child protective services was required for the safety of the child. In September 2010 there was abuse suspected again when Marcus had injuries that were not accidental by his parents. His father Marcus Davis Sr. was arrested on child abuse charges and the family was still looked upon April 2011. His mother Shannon had completed training and services for domestic violence, therefore the case was closed. In May 2011 it was suspected that the child was being neglected but the case was once again closed in June 2011 when there were no concerns for his well-being. On July 10, Marcus was rushed to the hospital from his mothers home on High Meadow Lane where she claimed he hit his head on the cabinet. She was arrested on July 13 at Carolinas Medical Center and charged with felony child abuse with no bond.
Child protective agencies need to be reformed because some of them are not doing their jobs at saving and protecting children from abuse. There were plenty of times where abuse was suspected and Marcus could have been taken out of this situation. They could have saved his life by taking him away from his mother and putting him in a home where he would be safe. Since he was left there after they visited their home he ended up constantly being abused and died because of this child abuse. Social workers need to be better at knowing when a child is unsafe in a certain home. They also need to further check on children whom have been suspected of child abuse in the past. By doing this they will be able to save more children from the abuse they endure from parents and caregivers.
Khalil Wimes was a six year old boy, who was starved and abused by his parents for a long period of time. He was taken from his parents along with five other children who were permanently taken out of their care when he was born in 2006. According to the report, they were living in a home in West Philadelphia that was not fit to live in and the parents were also using drugs. In 2009, the parents regained custody of Khalil from Domestic Relations Court because the history of the parents was not fully looked upon by the judge. The judge felt that since the parents had taken a parenting class that they had improved, which was not the case. At visitations from a DHS social worker, Courtnei Nance, she failed to report the suspicions she had. On March 19th, 2012 his parents rushed him to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia because they said he was sick. Khalil Wimes ended up dying that same day from malnutrition and blunt force trauma, only weighing about 25 pounds.
Child protection agencies need to be reformed because too many of our children are dying in the hands of these agencies. It is not just social workers fault but also the judges because he is the one who decided to give Khalil back to his parents. He did not fully look into the history of the parents and see that they are not good parents and that the child would have been better off with his foster parent, who was also his cousin. Since he decided to give the parents custody again, Khalil died. Social workers also did not help the situation because the suspicions she had were left unsaid. Therefore, I think that social workers need to supervise better and speak up if they suspect abuse is still occurring. I also think that reform needs to happen because judges are making decisions that are not helping the children but are putting them in danger of facing abuse again. Child protection agency reform needs to happen because too many child death's from abuse is happening in this world.
Following the many child abuse cases and child deaths while in the system, the Department of Children and Family Services wants to try to put a stop to these deaths and child abuse cases. Social workers are also trying to find ways of reform to help prevent death and the child abuse children face everyday. To reform the system they want to lighten the load by lessening the amount of cases they have to 14. They also want to hire more social workers so that the amount of cases to a social worker will be less. They want to end the culture of fear, implement education-based discipline, get social workers more active in their clients, make managers and policymakers help with casework, and make emergency more accessible.
I feel that it is important for child protection agencies to often have reforms in order to better their agencies. By reforming they are constantly making change in order to help more children effectively. By lightening the load, this will give social workers the opportunity to really focus on their case. They will be able to slowly make the right decisions for children while they are not under a lot of stress and pressure from the other cases. By hiring more social workers, they will be able to implement the first option of reform which is to lessen the amount of cases. By getting 1,400 more social workers they will be able to help more children and have more people to help with the cases of child abuse and stop the many deaths that are happening. I also feel that it is very important to get more social workers involved because children all need to be protected. They should not only be handling the paperwork but also out helping as many children as they can. This will allow more children to be saved from abuse and death. When managers and policymakers get more active in the cases of children they will be able to help more children because they will be involved. They will also be able to understand all of the stress and pressure social workers are put under. I think that by reforming the agencies in these ways will help prevent child abuse from happening. It will also make child protection agencies better because they are making a change for the better and safety of children.
In some state reviews they say that caseworkers failed to protect children's safety. They did not check the background of the parents and they also closed cases that should have not been closed because children may have still being abused. Foster care agencies also failed to do background checks on foster parents and because of this children have died. For these mistakes, they are trying to improve the system in which children are supposed to be protected. The Office for Children and Families and the state are also trying to get better training for caseworkers in order to also better the agency as a whole. With the new alternative-response program they are trying to find ways to lesson the abuse children face and get them into safer homes. Another change that will happen is that caseworkers will be informed when the fingerprints of suspected abusive parents is connected to a crime so that they children will be taken out of their care and into the foster care system.
The changes that are supposed to happen is a good start to trying to improve the system of CPS. If caseworkers start to actually check backgrounds not only foster parents but also the biological parents, children will be safer. By having these background checks done regularly, social workers will be able to see whether the child is safe in their home. This will ensure the children that they are safely protected and are in a place where they will not be harmed. Better training for social workers is also a good idea because they will know how to handle certain situations that they were probably not put in before. They will have that prior experience and knowledge to know how it should be dealt with and will know how it will affect the child. Therefore, child protection agencies are stepping up and trying to reform the agency and make it better for the safety of children.
Social workers are now getting involved in trying to reform the system to help more children and to change how they handle situations. They feel that the major issues that need to be changed are the need for training, consistency, the emergency response backlog and improve policies. They realized that in order for changes in law, policies and decisions they needed fewer caseloads and also more social workers to come help. They also see the need to involve law enforcement, healthcare, and child welfare community to help children because they are still being abused. Others suggested that social workers also need tougher discipline. Another change that they want is access to information just as police have on families in order to prevent child abuse from happening. They will also have more information such as criminal records on everyone who lives in the home.
I think that it is good to see that social workers are trying to involve themselves in trying to reform the child welfare system. They are doing thier part to see that a change will occur for children's safety. Although there are major things that need to happen in the system, social workers are getting involved and taking action to help the lives of those children are who suspected of being abused. By speaking out as they are, people are seeing and hearing this and realizing that these changes need to quickly happen so that children will be out of these abusive homes. By getting others involved also such as police and the community, it will help prevent or stop the abuse children face at the hands of their parents. I feel that fewer children will die and will not fall through the cracks of the child protection agencies if more people get involved in trying to help save all children from neglect and abuse. By having better training social workers would also know how to deal with certain situations better and can make wiser decisions on the outcome of a case.
Nicholas Goodrich was an eleven month old baby boy, who was
abused by his mother’s violent boyfriend. With suspicions of abuse, many people
called into social services to save this suffering baby. According to “The
Columbus Dispatch” in four weeks, twelve calls had been made to Franklin and
Delaware county official by neighbors to stop the abuse. A neighbor stated that
he had a bite mark on his cheek, bruises all over his body, was malnourished
and had severe diaper rashes. Another stated that he would die if nothing was
done to help him. With all the calls of plead from neighbors, child protective
services still did not see that the child was being abused. They did not go to
the home for the safety of the eleven month old baby. He ended up dying when
his mother’s boyfriend picked him up by the throat and threw him across the
room after being angry because he kept crying.
This proves that when Child
Protective Services do not go to the rescue of children being abused they die
in misery. They go through the horrible abuse put on them by the people who are
supposed to love them. They do not put in enough effort to protect children,
which is their main responsibility in their job. According to "The Dispatch" 87 of the 234 children died from 2002 to 2007 under Ohio's child protection agency. This shows that they are not doing enough to save children because too many are dying while CPS is supposed to be protecting them from abuse. Ohio's child protection agencies also need reform because too many of our children are put through abuse and still face it even after they are in the system. They are too being failed by social workers, which is not supposed to happen in the place where they are supposedly safe. I am realizing that sometimes children are not even safe in the system. They continue to be let down and constantly abused when social workers make the decision to leave them in the care of their parents when there are obvious signs of abuse or neglect.
