North Carolina State University

Raleigh, NC

Happy Birthday to Us: Celebrating 15 Years of Advocacy!

Welcome to the 15-year celebration of the Section on Child Maltreatment. The Section was established in 1995 under the extraordinary leadership of Jeffrey Haugaard and Gail Goodman as our first and second presidents, respectively. Jeff and Gail were recently interviewed by Steven Behling about the early years of the Section and current challenges in our field – you can read portions of the interviews in the most issue of the newsletter, and they will be posted on this website.

Throughout 2011 we will review our history and celebrate 15 years of significant accomplishments. In 2012 we will initiate a long-range planning process to insure our next 15 years are even more successful than our first. All members will be encouraged to join the celebration and participate in the strategic planning.

I’d like to recognize our outgoing Board members for their years of dedicated service to the Section. Outgoing officers include Tony Mannarino, Past President; Amy Shadoin, Secretary; Rochelle Hansen, Member at Large; David Kolko, Membership Chair; and Jenelle Shanley, Program Chair. Please join me in extending a warm welcome to our newly elected and appointed board members, including Rex Culp, President Elect; Jenelle Shanley, Secretary; Sara Maltzman, Member at Large; Maggie Stevenson, Membership Chair; Lana Beasley, Program Co-chair; and Kate Cuno, Student Representative-Elect.  Each of these new Board members looks forward to working with you.

What’s happening??  This year the Section will continue several activities started in 2010 and many new activities will be initiated. Here are just a few highlights of current activity:

·         Lisa Jones, Member at Large is Chairing a task force on problems associated with current epidemiological data on child maltreatment. The task force will conclude this year with recommendations for improved epidemiological data collection.

·         Maggie Stevenson is starting an exciting membership drive. We want to increase our membership, but even more importantly, we want to involve current members in our initiatives. There are so many opportunities to be involved in the important work of Section. You will be hearing from us!!

·         We are thinking about ways to “give psychology away” by participating in a service activity in Washington DC prior to the APA convention. If you have ideas about what we might do, please contact me. We are in the brainstorming stages and welcome your input.

·         Our student leaders, Lauren Drerup Stokes and Kate Cuno have energized many student members to participate in a range of activities – if you want to get involved in a national professional organization that makes a difference for children and families, contact Lauren or Kate!

·         We will be celebrating National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April by highlighting research, practice, and advocacy activities of our members.

·         Early career professionals (aka ECPs) are vital to the field of child abuse and neglect. ECPs are “front and center” in our Section -- More than half of the members on our Board are ECPs or students! We want to do more to support the early career development of those newest to our field; there are unique challenges in launching a career in child maltreatment. The Section will work toward developing resources for our ECPs. If you are interested in getting involved in this initiative, please contact me (mary_haskett@ncsu.edu)!

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