What you'll find in this issue:
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- Keystone State Child Abuse Medical Forum Strategic Plan Release
- Solutions to Share
- CMSN Education News: December Graduates and Spotlight On
- Faculty Highlight
- Faculty Publications
- Events and Resources
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Keystone State Child Abuse Medical Forum Strategic Plan Released
written by Xavier Figueroa, HHD Dean's Office Marketing and Mariana Puerta, CMSN's Communications Intern
 Each year, 150-200 Pennsylvania children experience fatal and near-fatal child abuse or neglect. Evidence suggests that prior to these lethal and near-lethal events children often do not receive care from specialty trained healthcare professionals and the same evidence also reveals that many children reported for sexual abuse also do not receive specialized health care during child abuse investigations. Pennsylvania has under-developed policies about when a child should receive specialized health care evaluations and insufficient resources for such health care services.
Sheridan Miyamoto participated alongside other child maltreatment stakeholders with the Pennsylvania Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP) to develop a strategic plan with recommendations to improve collaboration and communication between stakeholders and the provision of medical services to child abuse victims across the state.
The goal of the Keystone State Child Abuse Medical Forum is to "reduce child morbidity and mortality from all forms of child maltreatment by ensuring children have timely access to high-quality medical evaluations (PA AAP, 2023)." Read more about the plan's six recommendations with specific actionable steps needed by the Governor and legislators: Keystone State Child Abuse Medical Forum Strategic Plan
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Solutions to Share
Supported by Penn State’s SAFE-T System, Act 59 of 2023 creates an infrastructure of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) and improved access to care for survivors. Read more here: Pa. legislation expands access to sexual assault nurse examiners across state | Penn State University (psu.edu)
 Denise (Shuey) Rohrbach, a 1975 graduate of the College of the Liberal Arts, who established the Rohrbach/Shuey Family Scholarship in 2021, passed away on Dec. 18, 2023 after a long, hard fought battle with cancer.
Created with a gift of $53,000, the Rohrbach/Shuey Family Scholarship provides support to students in the Fostering Lions Program to help reduce the debt incurred with room and board and unforeseen expenses such as food, clothing, and transportation. Read more about this courageous woman and her passion to make an impact through the Fostering Lions Program: Fostering Lions Program mourns loss of supporter Denise Rohrbach | Penn State University (psu.edu)
HHD Research in Action Talk: Christian Connell, associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) and Director of the  Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, presented a talk as part of the HHD Research in Action Series, entitled "Child Maltreatment Science @ Penn State: The Next Phase of Capstone Center Activities." Contact solutionsnetwork@psu.edu to learn more about this talk.
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Education News
Congratulations to the December Child Maltreatment Advocacy Studies (CMAS) Minor Graduates:
- Jenny Archer majored in Psychology, with a CMAS Minor. She spent her Capstone experience working with the Centre County Youth Service Bureau's Parenting Plus
- Jasmine Kaypour majored in Criminology, with a CMAS Minor. She spent her Capstone experience working with Centre CAC. Jasmine received the de Lissovoy Scholarship in 2023.
- Kailyn Locke majored in Psychology, with a CMAS Minor. Her Capstone experience was with the Centre County Youth Service Bureau.
Did you know that as part of their minor education, CMAS students spend a semester doing hands-on learning as part of their CMAS 493, a 3-credit course entitled, Child Maltreatment and Advocacy Studies: Capstone Experience. Each student works with a community agency that helps ensure children and youth wellness and advocacy. We are excited to shine some light on these amazing agencies, to both thank them for mentoring Penn State students in the important work of children and youth advocacy and encourage you to become better acquainted with their work.
CMAS CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE SPOTLIGHT ON
This month, we want to turn the spotlight on The Centre County Child and Youth Services (CYS) who, in 2017 were among the first to host student interns from CMAS 493. The primary focus of the CYC internship program is to enhance the educational experience of the individual student intern by providing real-world, hands-on learning through direct social work with children and their families.
Centre County Children and Youth Services, an office of Centre County in central Pennsylvania, is dedicated to the task of assuring a safe home environment, free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation, for all Centre County children. When a child's safety in his/her home cannot be reasonably guaranteed, they provide and/or make arrangements for children and youth. Their intention is to coordinate the least restrictive living arrangement while ensuring the child's individual needs are met. CYS tries to keep children in their own families whenever possible, providing temporary, substitute care when needed, reunites children with families as soon as possible and they also provide aid in adoption.
Students who work with CCCYS gain first-hand experience in the field of child welfare by spending time in the CCCYS units including intake, in-home and out-of-home/placement units. As part of their internship, students observe CYS day to day activities, attend home visits and school visits with designated caseworkers to learn how to interview children, and they shadow experienced caseworkers during child abuse investigations and intake assessments to learn what is necessary to ensure children's safety and implement necessary services. We are honored to be working with this great Centre County agency and thank them for their support of the CMAS Minors!
You can see a full list of sites where Penn State students have hands-on experience through out CMAS 493 Capstone on our website: Field Internships - Child Maltreatment Solutions Network (psu.edu)
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CMSN Faculty Highlight
Chad Shenk, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
Professor of Pediatrics (joint appointment)
The Child Maltreatment Solutions Network includes faculty from a diverse background of departments at Penn State. We are excited in this newsletter issue to highlight one of these faculty who does meaningful work in teaching, research and making an impact in child maltreatment prevention. Chad recently took the time to share a bit about his work and his passions in this interview.
Can you tell us more about what you teach?
One of the exciting ways I’ve contributed to the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network over the past ten years has been through its education mission. For example, I developed and teach both CMAS 258 and CMAS 465 for the undergraduate minor in Child Maltreatment and Advocacy Studies (CMAS) and it has been impressive to see the minor grow since I taught the first course back in 2017. I also regularly teach and co-teach graduate-level coursework in child maltreatment for HDFS and in support of the T32.
What do you hope your work leads to?
Ideally, the end of child maltreatment and its impact on public health. Until we get there though, I’ll continue educating young professionals on the topic of child maltreatment, conducting translational research to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of behavioral interventions for this population, and providing direct patient care to children and families affected by maltreatment.
Who inspires you, and why?
Jennie Noll is the person inspiring me most right now. The Center for Safe and Healthy Children and Child Maltreatment Solutions Network simply wouldn’t be or wouldn’t be what they are without her leadership at Penn State. Penn State would also not have the P50, as Jennie was responsible for securing the initial and renewal grant awards as Program Director while also designing the Child Health Study with Christine Heim to understand the biological impacts of child maltreatment on later health. I continue to be inspired by her in her new role co-directing the Mt. Hope Family Center at the University of Rochester, a legacy center for studying the impact of child maltreatment in the U.S. This new role includes Jennie serving as a Multiple Program Director for the University of Rochester’s own P50 award, where she will oversee multiple projects and cores advancing work in child maltreatment. Her dedication to elevating the reach and impact of child maltreatment science and policy is truly inspiring.
What research projects are you currently excited about working on?
What has me most excited in the research space right now is our work on contamination, which is currently supported by grants I have from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. This work is changing how we estimate the effects of child maltreatment, results that will have significant implications for child maltreatment scientists, policymakers, and healthcare providers regardless of the health outcome of interest. More to come on this front but feel free to learn more about the work here: https://hhd.psu.edu/hdfs/shenk-lab
What's one thing about child maltreatment that you want people to know?
It’s more common than you think and easier to prevent than you think.
How do you spend your time when not working to provide solutions for child maltreatment?
I spend as much time as possible hiking, backcountry camping, as well as traveling and cooking with family and friends. Here is a shot of Chad traveling in the Finger Lake area with his family over the holiday break.
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Events
APSAC Contemporary Challenges Facing Black Youth | Zoom | February 7, 2024
Implementation Science Seminar Series | UP or Zoom | March 28, 2024
Child Abuse Awareness Month | April 2024
CMSN Awareness Events | TBA April 2024
CWLA National Conference | Washington, DC | April 17-19, 2024
Centre County YSB 28th Annual On the Fly | May 13, 2024
2024 APSAC Colloquium | New Orleans, LA | June 10-13, 2024
IPSCAN Congress | Sweden | August 18-21, 2024
CMSN Annual Conference | November 15, 2024
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