Child Protection: A Critical Literature Review

Running head: CHILD PROTECTION
Child Protection
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

2CHILD PROTECTION
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................3
Child Protection.....................................................................................................................3
The Challenge........................................................................................................................4
The role of social workers in Child protection.......................................................................6
Several different approaches for Child protection.................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The Children’s Bureau of Australia has understood and supported the crucial role of
the child welfare workforce for helping the several vulnerable families ever since the
inception. The early focus of the social work practises was the safety of the children and their
protection and this has evolved gradually into child protection and child welfare practise that
valued the vitality of the various different professional skills required for changing the lives
of the dependent and vulnerable children. The Children’s Bureau supports the professional
social work in child development and welfare along with the early and the ongoing
commitment of the social work to child welfare that led to a very close alignment of the child
welfare and social work practises. The social work professionals have formed a professional
bases of children welfare workforce and has consistently worked towards demonstrating
active commitment for the well-being of families and children.
This paper shall elaborate on presenting a critical literature review in the field of child
protection and would outline the critiques of the conventional social work practice. It would
compare and contrast critical social work practice theories, approaches and models analysing
their application in organisational, social and cultural contexts.
Literature Review
Child Protection
As claimed by Allan, Briskman and Pease (2009), child protection refers to the
protection of the children from exploitation, violence, neglect and abuse that they face from
their families and societies. UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency
Fund) has used the term “child protection” for referring to the response and prevention of
children from violence and abuse that include their commercial sexual exploitation, child
labour practices, harmful traditional practices like child marriage and child trafficking. It

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defines child protection as “the set of laws, policies, regulations and services needed across
all social sectors – especially social welfare, education, health, security and justice – to
support prevention and response to protection-related risks” (Gilbert, Parton and Skivenes
2011). In Article 19 of the UN Convention on Rights of the Child, the protection of the
children world-wide, both in and out of their home is provided (Beigbeder 2017). It is to
mention that are several child protection systems world-wide that contains the set of
government run services, especially designed for protecting the youngsters and children who
are underage (below the age of 18 years) in order to encourage and promote family stability.
Children in near about each and every country and every culture and at every
economic and social level are at the risk of facing violence that included both emotional and
physical abuse, exploitation, trafficking, negligence and deliberate deprivation. The children
who are living in the communities and in households are impacted by the natural disasters,
conflicts, global pandemics such as HIV and AIDS are often at the high risk of violence and
abuse from their surroundings (Fook 2016). This negatively influence their potential of
thriving as an adult member of the society that they live in. In the year 1908 in Australia, the
Children Act 1908 was introduced followed by the Children and Young Person Act 1920.
They provided some sets of laws for protecting the young people and children during the
early twentieth century. Again in 1933, the Children and Young Person Act 1933,
consolidated all the laws into a single one. They were later consolidated into the education,
welfare, employment and health of the state by the Children Act 1989. However,
internationally, all the principles were then embodies in the United Nations Conventions on
the Children Rights.
The Challenge
As per Bissell (2016), more than half of the children in the world have experienced
severe violence in the year 2017. It has been found that about 64% of the Children facing