Child protection sits at the heart of social work. Every day, practitioners face a tangled web of risks and challenges that touch kids and their families in ways that are messy and deeply connected. Old-school methods that look at single problems just don’t cut it. They miss how complicated child maltreatment really is — and how the impact can linger for years. This essay takes a closer look at child protection through a biopsychosocial lens. In other words, it digs into how biology, psychology, and social forces collide to shape a child’s wellbeing. There’s a lot of research out there showing how abuse, neglect, and chronic stress can change a child’s body, brain, emotions, and relationships. It’s not just about the child, either. Trauma takes a toll on caregivers, too, leading to mental health struggles and even passing pain from one generation to the next. But you can’t ignore the bigger picture. Things like poverty, unstable housing, systemic inequality, and power imbalances in the system all push families closer to crisis. These aren’t just background details—they’re central to why families end up in the child protection system in the first place. Approaches that see the whole person and the whole family. Trauma-informed, family-centered, and empowerment-based interventions fit with the core values of social work: dignity, justice, and working together. When you look at things on all levels — individual, family, and society — the biopsychosocial model gives social workers a solid, ethical roadmap for helping kids and families.
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- Dan Kipchumba (Author), 2025, Child Protection Practice through a Biopsychosocial Lens, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1684705
