Here's an interesting writeup by Donna Koehn on TBO.com of how the state is switching to a new agency to supervise child abuse in Hillsborough County to try to reduce child deaths and a 40-percent staff annual turnover rate. In "Agency will review all open child abuse cases", Koehn notes that in addition to better recruiting of staff, seven weeks of training and a gradual increase in caseload to 18 (the Child Welfare League of America recommends 12), the new agency, Eckerd, plans on paying for employees's master's degree sin social work. It's interesting because it shows just how dire this situation became before changes were implemented. Is this happening in other states?
And Maya Szalavitz at Time.com weighed in on recent research by Harvard University's Martin Teicher that links child trauma with affects on the adult brain: "How child abuse primes the brain for future mental illness". I'm a great admirer of Szalavitz -- she usually does a thorough job.
Some encouraging words from the police chief of Fargo, ND, during a two-day domestic violence prevention training workshop, as reported by WDAY.com - Chief Keith Ternes, Fargo Police: "I think we're doing a good job of getting past the stereotype that this is a family issue, a private matter. In many ways, it's a crime issue that really is everybody's business." You're spot on, Keith.
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