Child and Family Welfare

Child and family welfare concerns the protection and well-being of children and the support of families, including child protection services.

Scope

It covers child protection and maltreatment, foster care and adoption, family support services, and child-welfare policy.

Core questions

• How can children be protected from harm?
• How should the state intervene in families?
• How are out-of-home care and permanency managed?
• How can families be supported to care for children?

Key concepts

• Child protection
• Maltreatment
• Attachment
• Foster care and adoption
• Permanency
• Family preservation

Key theories

Attachment and maternal care

Bowlby's WHO report linked children's mental health to early maternal care, shaping child-welfare practice.

Recognizing child abuse

Kempe's identification of the 'battered-child syndrome' galvanized modern child-protection systems.

History

Child welfare developed from attachment-informed care (Bowlby) and the recognition of child abuse (Kempe), building modern child-protection, foster-care, and family-support systems.

Debates

Child protection versus family preservation

How to balance removing children from harm with keeping families together.

Key figures

• John Bowlby
• C. Henry Kempe

Seminal works

• bowlby-1951
• kempe-1962

Frequently asked questions

What is the battered-child syndrome?

Kempe's clinical identification of deliberate physical abuse of children, which spurred modern child-protection laws and systems.