Benefits of a Combined Effort Between Police and Social Services in Child Physical or Sexual Abuse Investigations

Benefits of a combined effort between police and social services in child physical or sexual abuse investigations

Children are vulnerable creatures that need to be protected and nurtured. This is because predators surround children. What is most shocking is that the offenders of child physical and sexual abuse are mostly relatives and people who are close to the victims (Tower, 2010). Kids who are abused physically and (or) sexually suffer from low self-esteem. Physical abuse involves any activity that leaves a mark on the child e.g. whipping, slapping, scratching and biting. Sexual abuse involves touching a child’s genitalia, forcing a child to perform sexual activity (rape), child molestation, and child involvement in pornographic acting ( Staller et al., 2010).

The children social workers are experts when it comes to handling child offence cases. The police must undergo special training in order to work collaboratively with the social workers ( Staller et al., 2010). Therefore, knowledge on how to approach the issue is critical to ensure the children open up and disclose their predicament.

Child abuse and sexual offenders must face the wrath of the law. This is to ensure that they serve as a lesson to potential offenders. That is why the social services and the police should work jointly to bring the victims justice. The social services are in a position to gather and verify instances of child physical and sexual abuse. Once they have collected the information they can then involve the police ( Staller et al., 2010). The police then collect evidence pertaining to the abuse. With this evidence, they are well equipped to arrest the offenders and charge them in court. The essence of involving the police is because the child offenders are quite violent and can even commit more harm to the children. The offenders can also threaten and intimidate the social workers and other involved parties.

There are several benefits of collaborations between the police and the child protective agencies. For example sharing information, thorough investigations are possible, and there is greater accountability ( Staller et al., 2010). The collaborations between the two agencies ease the process of bringing the perpetrators to face justice. The creation of Child Advocacy Centre (CAC) where children are interviewed by both police and social workers has eased the collaboration efforts between the two agencies ( Staller et al., 2010). This is because the aim of CACs is to ensure