Pope Benedict XVI prayed with tearful victims of clergy sex abuse in a chapel Thursday, an extraordinary gesture from a pontiff who has made atoning for the great shame of the U.S. church the cornerstone of his first papal trip to America. Full story on msnbc.com
Child maltreatment is a significant social and public health problem in the United States (U.S.). In 2006, child protective services confirmed that approximately 905,000 children in the U.S. were victims of maltreatment and 1,530 died from abuse or neglect. Unfortunately, these numbers likely underestimate the magnitude of the problem in this country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is pleased to announce the publication of Child Maltreatment Surveillance: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements. This document provides conceptual definitions of child maltreatment, presents associated terms, and recommends data elements for voluntary use by the public health community in the development of surveillance systems. Hard copies of the publication can be ordered on-line at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/pubs/ncipc.aspx. An electronic copy is available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/CMP/CMP-Surveillance.htm.
A new study reports that the development of adult post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can involve a significant interaction between childhood abuse and variants of FKBP5, a gene that regulates glucocorticoid activity. The study found no significant interactions between the FKBP5 variants and trauma other than child abuse. Full report at The Journal of the American Medical Association
Lauren McDonald sits in a pile of prom dresses at her house on Feb. 28. Lauren has been collecting since November and, so far, she has 115 dresses that she'll be putting on sale right before the prom for girls who can't afford full-price dresses. Full story at Columbia Missourian
Parents who teach "tough love" by disciplining their children with spankings could be making them more likely to have sexual problems as teenagers and adults, a leading researcher said. Full story at Reuters
"It's time we stop it," Vieth said at a February 2007 conference. He acknowledged, though, that none in his audience of prosecutors, child welfare workers and community advocates would live to see the effort's conclusion. Full story at News-Leader.com
The National Center for Children in Poverty has followed the money trail in children’s behavioral health and found that it leads to strange and unexpected places. Read Towards Better Behavioral Health for Children, Youth and their Families: Financing that Supports Knowledge
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is please to announce the availability of The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan. This publication summarizes the research on childhood stress and its implications for adult health and well-being. This free publication is available for ordering in hard copy, for viewing online, or for downloading.
The Department of Health and Human Services' Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Welfare Information Gateway, and the FRIENDS National Resource Center on Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention have recently published their annual Resource Packet, Promoting Healthy Families, Preventing Abuse. The 2008 packet was developed with input from more than 30 national organizations that work to promote healthy families and highlights strategies to strengthen families by promoting key protective factors that prevent child abuse and neglect.
Missouri hopes to crack down on Internet harassment, but drafting legislation to fit the problem might be much tougher than first thought. Full Story at Missourinet
