Child Abuse
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Summer 2007 Newsletter Article The child abuse SIG had an excellent session at the
PAS meeting in Toronto this year. The session was filled
with old friends and new colleagues who all have an
interest in protecting children from maltreatment.
Each year, our session is co-sponsored by the APA and
the AAP section on Child Abuse and Neglect. I would
like to thank my colleagues at the section for assisting
me in planning our SIG. One of my annual goals is to
address a topic or issue at the SIG that relates in
some way to our host city- sometimes we highlight the
work of colleagues in that city, or invite a special
lecturer from the host city. This year, we asked our
colleague from SickKids, Alex Levin, to begin the session
with a discussion of ethical issues related to child
protection work.
Alex gave a provocative talk that covered ethical
issues related to both clinical care and child abuse
research. Those of us who are researchers in this field
are familiar with many of the challenges we face in
conducting our research. Alex’s presentation
and subsequent discussion gave us all some new issues
to think about. He began by discussing the interface
between research, clinical care and the child welfare
and legal communities. We discussed certificates of
confidentiality, consenting rights of parents who are
suspected perpetrators of abuse, and disclosure of
research findings that have potential legal implications.
We also discussed anonymous and retrospective research,
and ethical issues in animal research. Alex presented
hypothetical case examples to initiate conversation,
which was lively and thought provoking. These issues
are complicated, and the discussion gave us all much
to consider.
We followed the ethics discussion with a presentation
by Phil Scribano who reviewed ACGME requirements for
child abuse fellowships with the group. Within the
next few years, child abuse pediatrics will be officially
recognized as a pediatric subspecialty by the American
Board of Pediatrics, and fellowship programs will need
to conform to ACGME requirements. Phil led us through
the many steps we will need to take in order to fulfill
the mandates of the ACGME. His talk was very helpful,
quite humorous at times, and made us all realize how
much work we have to do within the next few years to
get our programs sufficiently organized. For those
of you not present, you can visit www.acgme.org for
an introduction!
Finally, David Rubin presented an interesting
and very informative policy talk on children in foster
care and federal and state funding for children in
substitute care. He discussed the utilization of Title
IV funding for maltreated children and the impact of
the deficit reduction act on funds for vulnerable children.
These issues are important for us to understand so
that we can more effectively advocate for children’s
health issues to our legislators. David’s expertise
in this area is invaluable to all of us child abuse
pediatricians, and I appreciate his sharing his knowledge
and leading us in these issues.
I would like to express my personal thanks to all
of our presenters, who graciously volunteered their
(early) Sunday morning to help educate us all. Thanks
also to all the physicians and friends who participated
in the Child Abuse SIG. The group came to unanimous
agreement that child abuse deserves a platform presentation
session, and we passed that information on in our evaluations.
I will follow up with the APA to promote this great
idea. Overall, I thought it was a great session, and
look forward to next year in Hawaii (who wouldn’t?!).
I’ve already got some plans brewing, but need
your input. If you have a burning issue, or an idea
for a great presentation, please let me know. I can
be reached at Christian@email.chop.edu – Until
Hawaii, Aloha!!
Previous newsletters: Click
here
Cindy Christian, MD (Chair)
Department of Pediatrics
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Division of General Pediatrics, Rm 2416
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-590-2058
Fax: 215-590-2180
mailto:christian@email.chop.edu
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