Re: Latina Abuse - Amelia.17
Carla Wykes
The second half of the season picked up in May 2020.[99] These storylines in the season encompassed both Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 through fictional crossover events.[100] One of these finished the story centered around the mental health of Gianniotti's Andrew DeLuca, which was introduced in the sixteenth season, regarding a patient that had been sexually abused and human trafficked.[101] The storyline was finished by DeLuca's death as a result of a stabbing that occurred in Station 19.[102] Sources close to the production of the series reported that the sixteenth season was supposed to include a character death. However, these plans were scrapped when the season was cut short due to the pandemic; Vernoff said that the death would not have been DeLuca because she wanted to show that people could experience a mental health crisis and be successful afterwards.[99]
Her children, including her infant son, were removed from her care, separated from each other, and placed in foster homes. Four of the six children have experienced abuse in the foster system and are coping with serious mental health impacts, Adaline said. One of her sons had to be admitted to a mental health facility for inpatient care. The children remain in the foster system at time of writing, and Adaline is fighting to get them back.
Child welfare involvement begins with a report to the state child protective services hotline for suspected child abuse or neglect. Millions of reports are made every year: In 2019, for example, 3 million reports were made about nearly 8 million children.
Families with limited resources often have more exposure to mandated reporters because they have a greater need for, and use of, social services. This creates a dynamic where families living in poverty are surveilled, scrutinized, and reported more than those with greater resources. Black and Indigenous families are more likely to be reported for child abuse and neglect than white families, resulting in a racial and ethnic disproportionality of families surveilled and scrutinized. State officials review reports and refer about half for investigation or other child welfare agency response.
Notoriously broad and malleable state definitions of abuse and neglect allow for significant subjectivity. As a result, determinations are susceptible to conscious and unconscious bias based on race, class, or other factors. If the caseworker or child welfare agency subjectively determines that abuse or neglect has occurred, the allegation is deemed substantiated, and the parents or other caregivers are listed on a state central registry for years, adversely affecting their access to employment and ability to foster other children, including their own relatives. In some states, parents are listed on the registry even without a substantiated allegation.
The most common reason why child welfare agencies become involved with families is neglect, followed by parental substance use. Most child removals by the US child welfare system do not involve physical abuse: only 13 percent of all child removals in 2019 occurred due to physical abuse. While definitions can vary from one state to the next, neglect is generally defined as a parent or caregiver failing to provide adequate food, clothing, hygiene, nutrition, shelter, medical care, or supervision in ways that threaten the well-being of the child. This definition is inextricably linked to poverty.
This report also includes extensive independent analysis of data available online through the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect,[2] and through state and county child welfare agencies.[3] Federally collected data sets include information from all states on child abuse and neglect, maltreatment, and the foster system. This includes demographic and situational data on the children and families investigated by each state as well as the outcome of the investigation and has more detailed information on the children who enter the foster system and their families.
As described below, most child welfare cases do not involve abuse but rather neglect, which is when a parent or caregiver is unable to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision for the child.
These privately funded and independent societies facilitated extensive family policing by working with family members, neighbors, police, and the courts to intervene in the lives of families whose children were perceived to be abused or neglected.[21] In addition, these societies excluded Black families and targeted Indigenous families.[22]
These events coincided with the rise of mandatory reporting laws in the 1960s which created systems for medical professionals to report certain childhood injuries that may have been caused by abuse.[27] As a result, the foster system population ballooned, compelling federal and state governments to take responsibility for the safety and well-being of children and families in a meaningful way.[28]
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 (CAPTA) provided federal funding to states for prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution, and treatment of child neglect and abuse and let states expand the professions considered mandated reporters.[29] CAPTA was the first legislative effort to establish minimum standards for child neglect and abuse, and to provide states with funding to support child welfare agencies and programs at the local level.
CAPTA established an inflexible approach to child welfare. Increased surveillance and interventions due to child abuse reporting laws led to high rates of children entering the foster system and languishing in the custody of child welfare authorities. Black children were disproportionately impacted as they were more likely to be reported and less likely to be reunified with parents or get adopted than white peers.[32]
Every state has its own child welfare system that investigates reports of child abuse and neglect, determines whether children should be removed from their parents or supervised at home, and provides foster placement services when needed.
Federal laws mentioned above, specifically CAPTA and ASFA, set the minimum requirements for state and local child welfare systems. In addition, each state has specific laws that define abuse and neglect, establish the mandatory reporting requirements, and delineate required child protective service interventions.[47]
Nationwide, nearly 75 percent of confirmed child maltreatment cases in 2019 involved neglect as defined by state statutes.[54] Parental substance use is the second most common reason, alleged in around 34 percent of child removal cases in 2019.[55] Serious forms of abuse, like physical and sexual abuse, are associated with a smaller portion of cases. More than four-fifths of all child removal cases were not based on physical abuse. Fewer than one out of ten involved sexual abuse.
Most child removals for maltreatment by the US child welfare system do not involve acts of physical abuse. More than 80 percent of the children who were removed from their families between 2015 and 2019 were due to other reasons.[61] Instead, the primary reason child welfare agencies remove children is neglect, followed by substance use, subjectively deemed to place the child at risk of harm.[62]
In 2019, states reported nearly 75 percent of confirmed child maltreatment cases involved neglect as defined by state statutes.[65] Just under 18 percent involved physical abuse, and around 9 percent involved sexual abuse.[66] Some cases involved more than one factor.[67]
States have the authority and discretion to further define child abuse and neglect in civil statutes governing the child welfare system. States specify the conduct and omissions that must be reported and mandate policies and procedures for responding to allegations of child maltreatment. Criminal statutes define types of child maltreatment subject to criminal prosecution.[72] Due to differences between states, conduct defined as abuse and neglect in one state may not be actionable in another.[73]
Black children are overrepresented in the child welfare system when compared with their percentage in the total population.[83] Whereas Black children make up just 14 percent of the US child population, they make up 24 percent of child abuse or neglect reports and 21 percent of children entering the foster system. In contrast, white children make up 50 percent of the US child population, and only 46 percent of the children represented in abuse or neglect reports and children entering the foster system.
Black families are more likely to be reported for maltreatment due to ongoing surveillance of their families and communities by social services and law enforcement.[84] Structural racism and lack of investment in community supports mean these parents also often lack access to the services and supports they need to help their children thrive.[85] Child welfare authorities intervene even when children are not in danger of any abuse or neglect and punish parents when they need greater support.
In addition, there are significant disparities in reporting rates. Black and Indigenous families are more likely to be reported for child abuse and neglect than white families.[130] For example, law enforcement and education personnel report Black children at twice the rate of white children, as shown in the figure on the following page.
Public health studies have found that medical providers are more likely to report people of color and children experiencing poverty for suspected abuse or neglect.[134] For example, Black children presenting at medical facilities with fractures are reported to child welfare authorities far more frequently than white children with similar injuries.[135]
Every year, more than 3 million children experience a child welfare investigation related to an allegation of child abuse and neglect.[138] Investigations can be highly stressful, and even traumatizing, for children and their families.[139]
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