Protecting abused and neglected children: can law help social work?

In the United States, about 25% of all child fatalities attributed to abuse or neglect occur after the child has been reported to a child protective agency. (Tens of thousands of other children receive serious injuries short of death while under child protective supervision.) Increasingly, individual workers are being blamed when the children in their care suffer further maltreatment. In all parts of the country, workers are being given administrative reprimands, are being fired, downgraded, or reassigned for mishandling their cases. Many are being sued for professional malpractice; some are being criminally prosecuted for official malfeasance and negligent homicide. Blaming workers is sometimes deeply unfair and fear of unfair criticism leads to defensive social work and, hence, to overintervention into private family matters. Existing laws encourage this unfair criticism by greatly overstating the ability of workers to predict future maltreatment. Laws can be reformulated to help workers better protect maltreated children. Laws should make clear that, subject to certain minor exceptions, protective action is warranted only when the parents' past behavior seriously injured the children or was capable of causing serious injury.