OVC Video Series Addresses Children’s Exposure to Violence
The Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) has released “Through Our Eyes: Children, Violence, and Trauma,” an online video series to address the needs of children exposed to violence and victimization.The series includes a public awareness video in which victims discuss the effects of the violence and trauma they experienced; and three topic-specific videos detailing evidence-based treatment, child advocacy strategies, and community-based approaches to help those affected.
Visit http://www.ovc.gov/pubs/ThroughOurEyes/index.html for details.
Penalties for Falsely Reporting Child Abuse
The Jerry Sandusky criminal trial is over; the civil lawsuits are in active settlement mode. Undoubtedly, the entire country is more tuned into child abuse than it ever was. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that about 105 bills on the reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect have been introduced in 2012 legislative sessions in 30 states and the District of Columbia. 1 All of them include a penalty for failing to report suspected child abuse.
Oregon is one of the states which recently enacted child abuse reporting legislation. It added to the ...
Ending the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in California
Today the National Center for Youth Law released a new report, Ending Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Call for Multi-System Collaboration in California.
Report author Kate Walker, an Equal Justice Works Fellow and Attorney at the Center, commented that "Every day, the unthinkable happens: thousands of America's children are coerced into performing sex for hire. Exploitation can start as young as age ten. Some exploited children are brutally beaten and raped. Others are isolated, drugged, and starved until they become "willing" participants. Yet, ...
Mental Disorders Rampant Among Teens
Some sobering statistics from ChildTrends:
Almost 1 in 4 boys and more than 1 in 3 girls in grades 9-12 report symptoms of depression (which is defined as feeling sad or hopeless almost EVERY DAY for TWO WEEKS or longer)
About 1 in 12 adolescents reported experiencing a major depressive episode during the past year
10% of adolescents reported symptoms of an anxiety disorder including OCD, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, and phobias
5% of adolescents report symptoms of an eating disorder
Substance abuse disorders frequently go hand in hand with mental disorders. In additi...
Child Maltreatment 2011 – The Report
On February 7, 2013, at 1 p.m. E.T., the Children’s Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will host the 1-hour Webinar, Child Maltreatment 2011—Key Findings and Expanded Discussion to expound on the findings reported in Child Maltreatment 2011. The report presents national data about child abuse and neglect known to child protective services agencies during fiscal year 2011.
During FFY 2011, an estimated 3.4 million referrals, were received by CPS agencies. The national
estimate of 3.4 million ...
Respite Care for Foster Parents Should Not Mean Inferior Care for Foster Children
Caring for a foster child, especially in a therapeutic setting, is a full-time undertaking. Because it can have severe emotional repercussions on the family, respite care by another trained foster parent or other professional is frequently made available.Respite care is an intervention that may reduce the risk of abuse or neglect to the foster child (Goldman, Salus, Wolcott, & Kennedy, 2003) while it simultaneously offers welcome benefits to the caregiver (MacDonald & Callery, 2004). Indeed, one study (Chan & Sigafoos, 2001) found that the more frequently families made ...