About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

66 Colum. L. Rev. 679 (1966)
Legal Framework for Child Protection, The

handle is hein.journals/clr66 and id is 701 raw text is: THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR CHILD PROTECTIONt MONRAD G. PAULSEN* In recent years, widespread reports of shocking instances of child abuse have prompted an outraged public to demand that something be done. Many states have responded with constructive measures designed to provide greater protections for children. At times, however, pressure has been directed toward the enactment of additional punitive laws, with little attention paid to the construction of the broader legal framework required for effective child pro- tection. It is the purpose here to examine the general framework within which the problem of child abuse has been located and some of the legal and social issues involved. Lawyers, as well as social workers, teachers, and pediatricians, have a professional interest in the problem of child abuse. In America, raising children is the business of parents, not of government. Hence, the law normally gives to parents the custody of children, and relies on parental love to call forth the care and protection a child requires. An act of child abuse, therefore, takes place in a setting which the legal system itself has arranged. In every state, however, the law has provided for intervention by society when parental care is dangerously faulty or insufficient. Four sets of legal provisions are directly related to child abuse: 1. Provisions of the criminal law, which can be invoked to punish persons who have inflicted harm upon children. 2. Juvenile court acts, which universally provide that, upon evidence of abuse, parents or other caretakers may be found to have neglected a child In such instances, the court may undertake protective supervision of the child or order his removal from the home. 3. Legislation, in many states, authorizing or establishing protective services for abused and neglected children as a part of a comprehensive pro- gram of public child welfare services. 4. Child abuse reporting laws, now existing in almost every state, which encourage the reporting of suspected child abuse so that the other provisions for the protection of children can be called into play. t Research for this article was made possible through a grant by the U.S. Depart- ment of Health, Education, and Welfare, Child Research and Demonstration Grants Pro- gram No. PR-800. The author wishes to thank Miss Charlotte Ann Moses and Mr. Peter Lushing, students at the Columbia University School of Law, for their assistance in the preparation of this article. * Professor of Law, Columbia University. A.B., University of Chicago, 1940; J.D., 1942.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most