Article Review: School Social Work and Child Welfare Issues

This article review examines the article "Maltreated children in schools: The interface of school social work and children welfare" by Jonson-Reid, Melissa, et al., which explores the characteristics and prevalence of maltreated children within school social work caseloads. The review highlights the study's methodology, which involved collaboration between university researchers and school social workers across multiple districts. Key findings include the high percentage of maltreated children in social work caseloads, their increased referrals for academic and behavioral issues, and the implications for social work practice. The review discusses the use of a systems approach and a generalist perspective in addressing the complex needs of these children, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary collaboration and improved educational support. The report concludes by connecting the article's findings to the reviewer's social work practice and advocating for further research and improved interventions to support maltreated children and their families. The study underscores the importance of social workers in identifying and addressing the challenges faced by maltreated children, particularly in the context of their academic and social development.

Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW 1
Article Review
Name
Institution

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Article Review
Question #1
Summary
Introduction
Ideally, the issue surrounding children maltreatment in schools has been a long lasting
challenge in the societal settings for the last couple of decades now. However, no work exists
that tend to examine the way that the maltreated children are provided with services by the
overall school social workers. The article “Maltreated children in schools: The interface of
school social work and children welfare” by Jonson-Reid, Melissa, et al. documents the overall
characteristics as well as the prevalence of children who are diagnosed with indications of the
present or rather the past maltreatment on the environment of school social work caseloads
(Melissa, et al., 2007). The article as well explores the overall that exist with child welfare
services while examining the way case traits fluctuate based on their level of involvement with
child welfare.
According to the authors, cases of maltreatment are often presented in a report where the
child welfare agency is tasked at investigating, assessing, or even closing the case immediately.
Research shows that most maltreated children tend to indicate a rather low academic
involvement and thus have a deficit in social skills compared to those children who are a social-
economical advantage (Melissa, et al., 2007). In this light, the article explains that those children
who are subjected to foster care are mostly at a risk for poor academic outcomes. According to
the authors, there are various national surveys regarding school social work tasks that have
already identified maltreated children as a collective target populace among the overall social
workers in different schools. On the other hand, the article indicates that state children welfare

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agencies have been struggling in addressing mental health, health requirements of children that
receive welfare services, and the educational services they receive.
Discussion
The article specifically focuses on the issue surrounding the overall characteristics as well
as the prevalence of children who are diagnosed with indications of the present or rather the past
maltreatment on the environment of school social work caseloads (Admon Livny & Katz, 2018).
The article as well explored the overall that exist with child welfare services while examining the
way case traits fluctuate based on their level of involvement with child welfare (Melissa, et al.,
2007). The entire study in the current article was developed in a collaborative manner
particularly by the university researcher as well as the school social workers who came from
three different districts. The data that were presented in the article included the entire population
of students that served between the year 2000 and 2001 of their school year in two different
district schools with a comparable population as well as school social work practices (Melissa, et
al., 2007). The overall caseload per school ranged between 200 to about 300 students every year.
The student’s demographics were captured through collaboratively developed
management information system. The data that were obtained in the research was transferred to
the researchers by the use of ID numbers with an aim of protecting the confidentiality of the
entire students who participated in the research. The demographics of children included grade
level particularly at the time of referral, gender, race, the status of the resident, as well as the
eligibility for the special education. Consequently, the researchers divided the race into either
“white” or “nonwhite” (Melissa, et al., 2007). The reasons for referrals included suspected child
abuse as well as neglect, disruptive behaviors, aggression, academic problems, family issues

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including parent’s substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental health. Other issues that were
involved included financial difficulties, sexual assaults, and harassment.
Conclusion
As part of the result of the article, the overall students with cases of maltreatment were
comprised close to 20 percent of the entire school social work caseload from the chosen
research’s districts. Moreover, there were 40 percent fewer cases that consisted of known child
welfare workers outside the agency collaboration services (Melissa, et al., 2007). The authors
discovered that maltreated children ended up having more referrals for both academic as well as
behavioral problems compared to other children who were on the social work caseload.
Additionally, there was a lower likelihood for the younger children with maltreatment issues to
show positive case depositions. In this light, the overall hypothesis for the research study was
confirmed through the discovery in the study. Some of the implications in the study included the
type of the maltreatment was only assessed for cases based on a report to CPS, one district failed
to identify students who were in foster care thus making the overall foster care group very small
to be examined differently, lack of measures of the overall social skills. In this light, some
recommendations included the need for future studies to capture other measures regarding
students functioning.

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Question #2
In essence, the system approach is a way of perceiving as well as thinking through a
problem by first identifying and focusing on different elements on that particular problem. One
way of handling system approach is through collaboration (Rosen, Handley, Cicchetti, &
Rogosch, 2018). The present study made use of system approach by looking at the maltreatment
in different angles such as neglect, disruptive behaviors, aggression, academic problems, and
family issues including parent’s substance abuse as well as domestic violence (Melissa, et al.,
2007). The article used the art of collaboration by linking the social welfare agency and the
school social workers.
Question #3
Generalist perspective involves the habit of social workers focusing on an individual’s
well-being in a rather social context and the overall well-being of the society at hand (Graham,
Pears, Kim, Bruce, & Fisher, 2018). The current study utilized the aspect of a generalist
perspective by looking deeply into the problem of maltreatment affecting children in social
schools with an aim of improving the quality of life of the individual as in the society.
Question #4
The study found that the cases of maltreatment were often referred for the overall
academic difficulties as well as aggressive behavior compared to other students involved in the
caseload (Van der Kolk, 2017). Additionally, the study discovered that cases of maltreatment had
a higher participation in the entire special education settings.
Question #5
For an effective social work practice based on the findings, there is a need for rather
multidisciplinary collaborations in the societal settings to cater for the multiple maltreated

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families. Additionally, to improve the social work practice, there is a need to focus more on the
academic difficulties that children face while improving the quality of education in special
educational settings.
Question #6
The issue of maltreated children has become prevalent in the contemporary society, as a
social worker, this article correlates with my area of practice on the fact that it touches on the
relevance of social workers and their roles in children welfare (Kinniburgh, Blaustein,
Spinazzola, & Van der Kolk, 2017). It is important for social workers to be knowledgeable on
this subject for they understand the extent to which the issue has affected society and thus able to
fight against child abuse (Holmes, Yoon, Berg, Cage, & Perzynski, 2018). Additionally, it helps
the social workers to understand the group of children who are likely to be affected with
maltreatment and therefore designing a prevalent method (Herrenkohl & Jung, 2017).

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References
Admon Livny, K., & Katz, C. (2018). Schools, families, and the prevention of child
maltreatment: lessons that can be learned from a literature review. Trauma, Violence, &
Abuse, 19(2), 148-158.
Graham, A. M., Pears, K. C., Kim, H. K., Bruce, J., & Fisher, P. A. (2018). Effects of a school
readiness intervention on hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning and school
adjustment for children in foster care. Development and psychopathology, 30(2), 651-
664.
Herrenkohl, T. I., & Jung, H. (2017). Effects of Child Maltreatment, Cumulative Victimization
Experiences, and Proximal Life Stress on Adult Crime and Antisocial Behavior.
Holmes, M. R., Yoon, S., Berg, K. A., Cage, J. L., & Perzynski, A. T. (2018). Promoting the
development of resilient academic functioning in maltreated children. Child abuse &
neglect, 75, 92-103.
Jonson-Reid, M., Kim, J., Barolak, M., Citerman, B., Laudel, C., Essma, A., Fezzi, N., Green,
D., Kontak, D., Mueller, N. and Thomas, C. (2007). Maltreated children in schools: The
interface of school social work and child welfare. Children & Schools, 29(3), 182-191.
Kinniburgh, K. J., Blaustein, M., Spinazzola, J., & Van der Kolk, B. A. (2017). Attachment,
Self-Regulation, and Competency: A comprehensive intervention framework for children
with complex trauma. Psychiatric annals, 35(5), 424-430.
Rosen, A. L., Handley, E. D., Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (2018). The impact of patterns of
trauma exposure among low income children with and without histories of child
maltreatment. Child abuse & neglect, 80, 301-311.

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Van der Kolk, B. A. (2017). Developmental Trauma Disorder: Toward a rational diagnosis for
children with complex trauma histories. Psychiatric annals, 35(5), 401-408.