Symposium: Reforming Child Protection Law: A Public Health Approach

Friday, April 13, 9:00am - 3:30pm, 250 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn

CO-SPONSORS:
Center for Health, Science and Public Policy ( http://www.brooklaw.edu/intellectuallife/centerforhealthscienceandpublicpolicy/executivedirectorsmessage.aspx? )
Journal of Law and Policy ( http://www.brooklaw.edu/intellectuallife/lawjournals/journaloflawandpolicy/generalinformation.aspx? )

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM: In recent years, child maltreatment has been strongly linked to identifiable risk factors, such as poverty and stress. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has defined child maltreatment as an important public health problem and has an ongoing program of epidemiological research underway. Thus far, the child protection system has failed to respond to this new, epidemiological understanding of maltreatment. It has not developed evidence-based treatments or standardized diagnostic procedures, and it has woefully neglected prevention, the key to most successful public health campaigns.

Equally important, both federal law and local practice reflect an acute care treatment paradigm that aims at rapid cure and exit, while all the evidence suggests that for both the maltreating parent and the victimized child, maltreatment is a chronic condition that requires long-term support and services. A new approach, reliant on a public health model, is urgently needed.

This symposium brings together a distinguished interdisciplinary group of legal, medical, and social science experts on child protection to chart the steps that policy makers need to undertake.

REGISTRATION/FURTHER INFORMATION: See: http://www.brooklaw.edu/newsandevents/events/2012/04-13-2012.aspx?