The National Association of Social Workers’ policy statement outlines the organization’s stipulations regarding the protection of children’s welfare. It draws its positions from fundamental human rights which apply to both adults and minors. The organization seeks to address the historical abuse and inhuman treatment of persons under the age of eighteen. The policy statement is preceded by a detailed chronological history of children’s rights and well-being. The historical and current status of child welfare forms the premise of NASW’s policy statement.
The Child Welfare Information Gateway is a publication of policies and legislation on how society should treat minors. It discusses laws adopted by various states on matters such as adoption and child abuse. Additionally, the publication stipulates federal laws on the same issue. The publication, “Social work speaks,” discusses the historical background of children’s rights and forms the basis for NASW’s policy statement. The Kids Count Data Center provides statistics on the prevalence of child maltreatment cases.
This post focuses on NASW’s position on the rights of immigrant children and their welfare. They deserve the same protection as their counterparts, who are natives of the country. Ideally, both citizen and immigrant minors should enjoy equal attention from the law. However, in American society, underaged immigrants face extensive abuse and discrimination. New Jersey passed legislation in 2013 that would allow undocumented immigrant children to access public education within the state (Morse, 2016). The law recognizes education as a universal right for all persons under the age of 18 years.
While the law seeks to ensure that both immigrant and local children have equal access to education, it faces opposition from many parties. Its opposers cite reasons such as the overcrowding of schools, straining economic resources, and the adverse effects a linguistically diverse classroom has on native children (Bossavie, 2018). Such allegations result in the victimization of immigrants in the school setting. My initiative is to expand public school facilities to accommodate the growing student population. Moreover, I propose that the government and non-governmental organizations provide a parallel language curriculum that teaches foreigners the local language and introduces them to the American educational system.
The students should only be allowed to join regular schools once they are proficient in English. Suggestions to limit the admission of immigrants into state-funded institutions are outright discriminative. Underaged individuals have the right to appropriate shelter, food, clothing, health care, education, and protection (Abaya & Nickel, 2019). While the state government may face financial and technical strain in catering for the children because of the increase in illegal immigrants, my proposal seeks humanitarian agencies to fund their education. The plan would need a larger pool of human resources to execute effectively.
NASW’s position that child maltreatment incidents are not singled-out cases is of paramount importance. There is a need to improve the systems which work towards children’s welfare. Such institutions include mental health clinics, rehabilitation centers, and rescue homes. My strategy would be to increase funding to such institutions to cater to children’s needs effectively. With more economic resources, such foundations can expand their operations to reach out to more children.
Institutions, including the government, should train social workers on cognitive procedures, which enable them to identify signs of concealed mistreatment of foster children (Manigault, 2020). Such an initiative will ensure that child welfare professionals are competent enough to understand native and foster immigrant children’s needs. It will also guarantee that immigrant minors are treated more humanely since more personnel will oversee their welfare. The biggest challenges in achieving such initiatives are financial constraints and the ever-increasing prevalence of child malpractice cases.
References
Abaya, M., & Nickell, P. Protecting immigrant children’s rights to health and safety in government custody [Abstract]. APHA’s 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo. Web.
Bossavie, L. (2018). The effect of immigration on natives’ school achievement: Does length of stay in the host country matter? (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 8492). Web.
Manigault, S. A. (2020). Child welfare workers’ perceptions of their competencies at detecting and reporting abuse of foster children (Publication No. 9180) [Doctoral dissertation, Walden University]. Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies.
Morse, A. (2016). 31. In-state tuition and unauthorized immigrant Students. In J. J. Gonzalez & R. L. Kemp (Eds.), Immigration and America’s cities: A handbook on evolving services (pp. 160-165). McFarland.