APA Division 37

The Section on Child Maltreatment (Section 1 of Division 37 of the APA) was established in 1994 to support and promote scientific inquiry, training, professional practice, and advocacy in the area of child maltreatment. The Section on Child Maltreatment is the only permanent organization within the APA specifically developed to address issues related to child abuse and neglect. For more information about the Section, please contact President Jennifer Kaminski at anu1@cdc.gov.

Above is a picture of our 2012 Board. Top row, from left to right includes Mark Haskett, Amy Damashek, Yo Jackson. Bottom row includes Sarah Maltzman, Kate Cuno, & Brittany Reyes.

Please join us: the first year of membership is free, To join for free, email our membership chair Margaret Stevenson at ms446@evansville.edu or click here.

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April is Child Abuse Prevention Month!!!

To celebrate, we'd like to highlight some of the excellent work that is being done by Section Members:

Brittany Reyes, MHR ( a graduate student at the Oklahoma State University) conducts research on protective factors that promote resilience in high-risk families. Specifically, her dissertation focuses on factors that moderate the intergenerational transmission of harsh and constructive parenting practices. The goal of her research is to ultimately impact service provision for youth and families deemed at-risk. Ms. Reyes also provides trauma-informed evidence-based therapeutic interventions in an outpatient clinic to youth and families with histories of child maltreatment.

Dr. Dolores Subia Bigfoot (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Center on Child Abuse and Neglect) is helping a community mother (Meghan Thiel) make community presentations about the impact of child sexual abuse. Ms. Thiel has no previous experience making public presentations but just wanted to do something to prevent child abuse!

Joann Grayson, Ph.D. from the Department of Psychology at James Madison University produces the Virginia Child Protection Newsletter. It is sponsored by the Virginia Department of Social Services through a federal grant. Each issue features a different child maltreatment and child welfare topic. The most recent issue concerns Developing Resilience and Strengthening Families. The newsletter can be found at http://psychweb.cisat.jmu.edu/graysojh/

Diane Wach Miller is a Research Support Specialist at the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR) and a doctoral student in Human Development at Cornell University. Her current research project is a secondary analysis of the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) dataset on identifying precursors to borderline personality disorder among maltreated youth.

Cindy Miller-Perrin has published a textbook about child maltreatment. The third edition will be released within a few months! The citation is: Miller-Perrin, C. L., and Perrin, R. D. (2012). Child maltreatment: An Introduction (3^rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Mary Haskett's (Department of Psychology at NC State University) collaboration with her local shelter community to enhance services for homeless parents and children was recently highlighted in the publication of the Eastern U.S. Region of the Salvation Army. See pages 8-9 of this publication: http://digitaleditions.sheridan.com/publication/?m=19414&l=1

Sara Maltzman (Senior Staff Psychologist at the San Diego County HHSA Child Welfare Services ) provided a 5-hour training for licensed therapists, CWS social workers, attorneys, CASAs and peer support youth entitled: Neurobiology of Trauma and Resilience: Implications for Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment. It was offered on 2/10/12 and 4/7/12. The training provided the background science for understanding traumatized children/teens, particularly those served by the CWS system, and linked the science to evidence-supported treatment and current assessment and diagnostic issues. The goal was to promote stakeholders’ understanding of the science so that they can provide, and advocate for, research-supported therapeutic and community services.

David Finkelhor, PhD, of the Crimes against Research Center, at the University of New Hampshire, along with colleagues Heather Turner, PhD, and Sherry Hamby, PhD, are working on the National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence (NatSCEV). This is an effort, funded by the US Department of Justice, to improve the assessment of children for a broad range of threats to their safety, from parental abuse to school violence. The project is leading to new epidemiologic information about the scope of the problems and the children at greatest risk. The project has been a cornerstone of Attorney General Eric Holder’s Defending Childhood initiative. Toolkits are being prepared to help communities and agencies use the resources of the project to assess groups of children and to monitor trends.

The links below also provide more information: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/projects/natscev.html

http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/domestic-violence/papers.html

Lisa Berlin, at the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University is conducting several research projects that bring attachment theory, research, and intervention to bear on public health initiatives for infants and toddlers, such as Early Head Start and home visiting services to prevent early abuse and neglect. In ongoing work she is examining (a) the effects of intensive home visiting on infant-mother attachment; (b) the extent to which mothers' own attachment security can moderate the effectiveness of intensive home visiting and Early Head Start services; (c) the efficacy of a short-term attachment intervention for promoting supportive parenting in substance-using mothers of infants.

Elizabeth Jacobs, Ph.D., a professor of Psychology at Glendale CommunityCollege (Arizona), published a book entitled “Will I Ever See You Again?Attachment Challenges for Foster Children: A Primer for the Adults in Their Lives” which provides case managers, judges, foster parents, GALs, CASAs,and other adults who move in and out of the lives of foster children, an introduction to the many factors that affect the foster child’s ability or inability to attach to others. “Will I Ever See You Again?” (originally published by Cengage Learning in 2008 and now available as an e-Book) reviews theories of attachment as they apply specifically to foster children, identifies factors in the foster care system that contribute to attachment problems in foster children, and offers suggestions for changes to improve the child’s chance to develop meaningful future relationships. Elizabeth welcomes input into her research on attachment issues in traumatized children. She can be reached at GCC North, 623.845.4188 or on her cell phone, 623.680.7607

Lauren Stokes, M.A., is a graduate student at the University of Kansas working on an NIH research grant that is seeking to understand what helps children in the foster care system be resilient despite their past histories of abuse and neglect. The goal is to ultimately informing interventions for kids and families.

Lisa M. Jones, PhD, at the University of New Hampshire, Crimes Against Children Research Center is working on research project funded by the National Institute of Justice evaluating current approaches to youth Internet safety education. The research will provide a critical analysis of prevention strategies targeting Internet victimization and an assessment of how well programs and curricula directed at this new area of concern for youth are incorporating elements of prevention that are known to be effective. The project will result in recommendations and tools for those developing and funding Internet safety programs as well as school and law enforcement educators. The research will be ongoing throughout 2011, with results available in 2012.

Barbara Bonner, Ph.D., at the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Amy Damashek, Ph.D. at Western Michigan University are conducting research on factors related to child fatalities in the states of Oklahoma and Michigan.

Celebrating Our History: Happy 15th Birthday !!

Welcome to the 15-year celebration of the Section on Child Maltreatment.Click here for a slideshow from the 2011 APA convention highlighting the section's history. You can also find out about our most recent events by clicking here to view a slideshow from our 2011 business meeting.

The Section was established in 1995 under the extraordinary leadership of Jeffrey Haugaard and Gail Goodman as our first and second presidents. Jeff and Gail were recently interviewed by Steven Behling about the early years of the Section and current challenges in our field –See interview transcipts below.

Interview with Jeffrey Haugaard Interview with Gail Goodman

Jeffrey Haugaard Gail Goodman

Other Interviews with Past Presidents:

Sharon Portwood Bette Bottoms Anthony Mannarino

Thomas Lyon