At a recent Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Las Vegas, a “resto-mod” was auctioned off for the benefit of Kristi House in Miami, Florida. We immediately put out an inquiry to our readers for more information about Kristi House and were deluged with responses.

They informed us that Kristi House is the state-designated Children’s Advocacy Center responsible for coordinating all child sexual abuse cases in Miami-Dade County working with its partner agencies. Kristi House was named in honor of a nine-year-old girl who was impregnated by her stepfather and had no idea how to seek help or even tell her story. Her pregnancy, however, brought her attention, and she got the help she needed while, at the same time, inspiring social workers to establish a Child Advocacy Center in her name.

Educators, who are some of the likeliest professionals to report child abuse, are encountering youth who have faced abuse in isolation throughout the pandemic. During 2020, the proportion of mental health-related emergency department (ED) visits among adolescents aged 12-17 years increased 31% compared to 2019. Suspected suicide attempt ED visits were 50.6% higher among girls aged 12-17 (CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 6/18/21). These stats indicate an increase in child abuse as children were confined to the home during the pandemic.

The history of the social work profession is the remarkable story of caring people responding to the evolving needs of societies marginalized. Since the first social work class was offered in the summer of 1898 at Columbia University, social workers have led the way developing private and charitable organizations to serve people in need.

Victims' of domestic violence are frequently traumatized and perplexed, believing there is no way out of their predicament. However, many survivors have difficulty recognizing the abuse. Understanding and recognizing the various types of domestic violence is essential for leaving an abusive environment.

Foster children face numerous difficulties. The overwhelming thought of removing them from their homes is stressful, but for many young people entering the social security system, this is only the beginning.

As a result of the violence, many children have been forced to flee their homes. Most are forced to adjust to constantly changing settings because they are moved from one home to another.

Staying in a foster care facility is difficult in any situation and can have serious consequences for a child's behavioral and mental health. To promote foster children's safety and mental health, it is critical to understand what they face on a daily basis and the dangers they face.

Every child deserves a happy childhood, but unfortunately, many do not receive one.

A child's childhood can be filled with a variety of 'bad' experiences. While child abuse at the hands of guardians remains one of the major contributors, children can struggle with other adverse experiences as well. Whatever the negative childhood experience was, it can have a long-term negative impact on the child's health as an adult. This is due to the fact that early childhood and adolescence are highly formative years in a person's cognitive and personal development.

Here's how bad childhood experiences can affect your health for the rest of your life.

A recent article in Social Work Today highlights a true triumph of empathy. In Innovations: New Foster Care Initiative Spotlights Parent Advocates, Debra McCall describes the parents’ pain when social workers have to remove children from their families.

“It is never easy. We enter parents’ lives at the worst possible moment—when the children they love have been removed from their homes. At that point, parents are experiencing shame, anger, and confusion. They are frightened and frustrated by the “intrusion” of the child welfare system into their lives. And they fear losing their children permanently, perhaps because that’s what happened to a neighbor or a friend.” (Social Work Today, Vol. 21 No. 1 P.3)

In the United States, there are around 328,120 child welfare employees. However, given the rising number of cases of child abuse and neglect, as well as the demanding nature of the job, it's reasonable to state that there is a severe shortage of child and family social workers in the United States.

Bridging the gap between available employees and children in need of help can take years and need significant adjustments to the current system. But, in the meanwhile, here's how child welfare agencies might better manage greater caseloads.

The focus of social work has shifted from providing immediate support as a safety net to the vulnerable to striving for a better long-term outcome for each client. In child and family services, the mission no longer ends at removing an endangered child from a dysfunctional household but now extends to how a Child Welfare Agency might help the child grow into a productive member of society. In other words, what will be the ultimate outcome for the child?

In 1998, a consortium of child welfare agencies in Missouri were researching the market for web based, social services case management software.  When their search turned up empty...they hired a firm to create it for them.  A few months later in the spring of 1998, FAMCare was born.