A Comprehensive History of Child Protection Laws and Legislation

This essay provides a comprehensive historical overview of child protection laws, tracing their evolution from early concerns about child abuse and neglect to the development of modern legislation. It examines key milestones, such as the establishment of orphanages, the introduction of early parliamentary acts, and the impact of pivotal events like the death of Maria Colwell. The essay also addresses critical issues like child labor, the role of the Children's Bureau, and the impact of the Great Depression on child welfare. Furthermore, it highlights the persistent problem of racial disparity within the child welfare system, discussing how factors like demographics, agency policies, and case work practices contribute to disparities in treatment and outcomes for children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The essay underscores the need for data-driven approaches to identify and address these disparities, advocating for a more equitable and effective child protection system. The essay also mentions the global issue of child labor and the efforts of organizations like UNICEF to combat it.

History of Child Protection Laws
Introduction
The unkindness and cruelty to children roots back in the history of human. Earlier, this
cruelty and abuse to kids was viewed as a personal concern rather than a societal one (Bilston,
2019). In the United States, children have been viewed as a building block of the country and
have been fundamental to the development of wellbeing program in the country. Until the start of
20th century, the matter of child abuses and cruelty was extremely private one but later in the
colonial period the matter came to the public when the kids are orphan (Gordon, 2011).
By the year 1800, the orphanage system started to came into existence. It was further
expanded during the civil war. The purpose of the orphanage was not only confined to the
provision of food and shelter only but also to inculcate good habits and good character in the
children. In 1889, the first act in the parliament was presented for preventing children from the
cruelty and giving the state the right to intervene between kids and parent for ill-treating them.
in 1973, the death of 5 years old Maria Colwell in the hands of her stepfather shocked the
nation despite being under the fortification of indigenous authorities. With this incident Area
Child Protection Committee came into existence which was supposed to local efforts to
safeguard children who are at risk. In 1974, federal child abuse prevention and treatment act
provide the reserves and required professionals and doctors and social workers to spot certain
child abuse cases. (Batty, 2005)
Moreover, in 1912 the children bureau investigations of the child labor played a vital role
in eliminating the child labor and put forward the demand for education for these children.
During the era of great depression, social security act was formulated with the view to provide

insurance program, old-age pensions and unemployment compensation as a result of the
bankruptcy that the state faced. The program was mainly grafted for the mothers and the children
in order to protect their basic rights during the great depression era.
Racial disparity happens at almost in every decision making program. Families with
diverse racial and ethnic background experienced different treatment in the child welfare. In
support to this, African-American children tend to spend a longer time in foster and are less
probable to rejoin with their families as compared to White-Americans.
Child maltreatment and poverty are a factors that mainly reported as a reason of
disproportionate among the children and the families. We need to understand that poverty does
not associate to abuse or neglect kids rather it is a risk factor that can restrict a parent’s ability to
provide children with their basic needs including housing, food and health care mainly
(Gateway, 2021).
Racial disparity also contributes a level of complexity in such as white children are
actually higher than the low-income Hispanic or black children and hence receives a different
treatment. These kids are underrepresented in the state’s child welfare system. Considering the
fact , the black children are only represented as a total of 5% kids in the state yet they makeup to
almost 15% of the kids those who have been removed from their homes on the account of
possible neglect or abuse (Trevizo, 2018).
Child labor is another source or the form of child abuse that is most commonly in practice
in the Asia. Last year in 2020 when the pandemic took a toll on the world, roughly around 160
million kids were exposed to child labor. This accounts for around 1 kid out of 10 children
exposed to child labor in the world. And nearly half of them are in the dangerous work that is

affecting their moral development alongside health. UNICEF works in order to avoid and
respond to child labor issues. With International Labor Organization, UNICEF intends to collect
data and make visible efforts eradiate child labor with the intention to return kids safely to school
or training (UNICEF, 2021).
In order to eliminate this disparity and disproportionality of the races, the factors like
demographics, agency policies and case work practices should be considered. To regulate the
best approaches to overcome these disparities at the local level, the agencies should thoroughly
examine the data sources to irradiate how the key decisions along with the range are impacting
the lives of the these racially and ethnically diverse children. To go further, the data is the key
thing in analyzing and evaluating the factors and formulating the strategies.

References
Batty, D. (2005). Timeline: a history of child protection.
Bilston, B. (2019, august 30). A history of child protection. Retrieved from Open Learn:
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/childhood-youth/working-young-people/
history-child-protection
Child Welfare Practice to Address Racial Disproportionality and Disparity. (2021). BULLETINS
FOR PROFESSIONALS.
Gateway, C. W. (2021). Child Welfare Practice to Address Racial Disproportionality and
Disparity.
Gordon, L. (2011). Child Welfare: A Brief History. Retrieved from social welfare history proect:
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/child-welfarechild-labor/child-welfare-
overview/
Trevizo, P. (2018). Racial and ethnic disparities in child removals go unaddressed here. Center
for Health Journalism.
UNICEF. (2021, june). Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/protection/child-labour