December 10th is International Human Rights day. It is the day we celebrate the United Nations adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration was a first of its kind and set out to establish universal basic human rights for everyone in the world taking cultural, racial and legal backgrounds into account. Rights protect people and allow them freedom and liberty. When we think of protecting a group of people usually the first group to be thought of are children. Children have rights, their rights need to be honored and protected and because they cannot do that for themselves we must do it for them.
In the United States children have the same protected rights as adults which are awarded to them by Amendment 14 of the Constitution. There are also federal laws which bolster these rights such as Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). This act provides federal funds to states to prevent, asses, investigate, and prosecute suspected cases of child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment. The act also supplies grant money to nonprofit and tribal organizations for prevention and education programs. CAPTA also establishes the role of the federal government to evaluate and research causes and information related to child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment within the US.
Even with these protections child abuse remains a problem. Last year in Arkansas the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) investigated 25,078 child maltreatment cases, of those 9,960 were found to be cases of maltreatment. At the end of 2021 there were 4,800 children in foster care around the state. Neglect is the single most perpetrated offense when it comes to child maltreatment cases. Neglect is defined as failure by the guardian to provide the basic necessities a child needs, leaving them unsupervised at an inappropriate place or age, or failure to report suspected child abuse.
Children are one of the most vulnerable populations in our society and should be protected. Remember that children have rights and should be treated as such. Anyone who thinks child maltreatment is happening should report it to the Child Abuse Hotline. It is important to gather as much information as possible to give the person on the hotline everything they need to start a proper investigation. It is all of our responsibilities to make sure the children in our community are safe, taken care of, and have their rights upheld.
To report child abuse or neglect in Arkansas, you can call the Child Abuse Hotline at:
1-800-482-5964 (TDD: 1-800-843-6349)
In 1990 the United Nations passed an agreement called the Convention on the Rights of the Child which set out to establish basic rights provided by governments to every child. As of December 2022, 196 countries have signed The United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, which includes all members of the United Nations except the United States.
This is what ‘The Convention on the Rights of the Child’ says:
https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention
https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text#
Direct PDF download of the condensed “children’s” version (this one is much easier to read):
https://www.unicef.org/media/60981/file/convention-rights-child-text-child-friendly-version.pdf
References
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2019). About CAPTA: A legislative history. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/about.pdf
2019 Arkansas code :: Title 12 – law enforcement, emergency management, and military affairs :: Subtitle 2 – law enforcement agencies and programs :: Chapter 18 – Child Maltreatment Act :: Subchapter 1 – general provisions :: § 12-18-103. definitions. Justia Law. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2019/title-12/subtitle-2/chapter-18/subchapter-1/section-12-18-103/
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