Prevent Child Abuse New York's Blog

NYS Child Abuse Prevention Conference 2011

Prevent Child Abuse New York is pleased to once again present the New York State Child Abuse Prevention Conference on April 11-13th at the Marriott Hotel in Albany, NY. The conference seeks to expand participants' skills and practice to strengthen families, promote optimal child development, and improve outcomes for children and families.

Participants will be provided with the quality programming this conference is famous for—nationally known keynote speakers and highly rated workshops—along with some new offerings. This year's plenary sessions will be presented by:

Deborah Daro, Ph.D. (Research Fellow, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago)

Preventing Child Abuse: Learning from the Past to Build for the Future, Monday, April 11

Jodi Pfarr (aha! Process Consultant, Bridges out of Poverty)

A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Tuesday, April 12

Milton Creagh (Motivational Speaker, Television Personality, Author, Father)

Voices from the Heart, Wednesday, April 13

In response to participant feedback, we're presenting several intensive institutes that facilitate more in-depth learning. The conference includes more than 40 training and skills-building workshops and in-depth institutes presented by renowned experts in the areas of:

Parent/Caregiver Education and Support

Effective Prevention Strategies

Skills for Direct Services Provision

Collaboration and Implementation within and across Systems

Not-for-Profit Management and Leadership

Exhibit space for commercial and not-for-profit vendors is available at the conference. More information can be found in the exhibitor's packet on our website. The deadline for applications and payment is March 4, 2011.

We're looking forward to the best conference yet—one that will leave you with new skills, new resources, and renewed energy and inspiration to do the work that you do.

Register and pay by March 4 to receive the discounted rate!

Recent Surge in Recession Runaways

The intersection between the recession and family stress may be causing an increase in runaway kids and teens, according to a recent article in the New York Times. Job loss, foreclosures, and poverty have added to the stresses at home which have been trickling down and effecting teens.

Reporter Ian Urbina recently spent time with teen runaways in Medford, Oregon. He learned the desperate measures they take in order to survive everyday rather than return home. Most runaways aren’t even reported missing by their guardians, and if they are reported to the local police, most times they don’t make it into the national database. Without national recognition, it is very hard for police to identify and return these runaways.

Police claim that runaways are not a top priority because most of the time they do not want to be found or returned home. Unfortunately of the 267 runaways reported nationwide 58 of them were found dead. “These kids might as well be invisible if they aren’t in National crime information center (N.C.I.C.),” said Ernie Allen, the director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

While federal officials are expecting a rise in homelessness this year, most social programs aid homeless families, not unaccompanied youth. At the same time, many financially troubled states have severely cut social services, leaving little to no help for homeless runaways. This presents a significant challenge for society, as runaway children are more likely to become homeless adults who are forced to live a life of crime.

For information please visit the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, The National Coalition for the Homeless, and The National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

The Future of Children: Focus on Child Abuse and Neglect

The latest issue of The Future of Children focuses on child abuse prevention. Contributors to the volume present the best available research on policies and programs designed to prevent maltreatment. They examine the gradual—and still partial—shift in the field of child maltreatment toward a "prevention perspective" and explore how insights into the risk factors for maltreatment can help target prevention efforts to the most vulnerable children and families. 

They assess whether a range of specific programs, such as community-wide interventions, parenting programs, home-visiting programs, treatment programs for parents with drug and alcohol problems, and school-based educational programs on sexual abuse, can prevent maltreatment. They also explore how CPS agencies, traditionally seen as protecting maltreated children from further abuse and neglect, might take a more active role in prevention.