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FACE IT and Child Abuse Prevention Month: The Role We All Play in Recognizing and Reporting Child Maltreatment · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to talking facts and thank you for tuning into Kentucky smiles on talking facts.
• 0:06
  A podcast collaboration between the University of Kentucky College of dentistry and the U.
• 0:12
  K.
• 0:12
  College of Agriculture,
• 0:13
  food and environment.
• 0:14
  Cooperative extension service Kentucky smiles offers listeners information on maintaining oral health advancements and dental treatments research and more.
• 0:26
  Hello and welcome to Kentucky smiles on talking facts.
• 0:30
  I am your host,
• 0:30
  mindy napoli extension specialist for in structural support the University of Kentucky.
• 0:36
  My guest today is dr Christina howard,
• 0:38
  a child abuse pediatrician at the University of Kentucky and we are talking about a really important topic which is child abuse prevention month and the fact that lots of times pediatricians will see cases and I need to report those cases and and so we're gonna talk about face it and we're going to talk about things that pediatricians see that that may be the general public may not be aware of and those sorts of things.
• 1:06
  So welcome Dr howard,
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  thank you for having me.
• 1:10
  So let's first just talk about child maltreatment.
• 1:13
  I know that this is topic that's difficult and something that you probably probably is the most difficult part of your job Well.
• 1:21
  And so you know,
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  I think as a pediatrician,
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  a child abuse pediatrician,
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  a pediatrician and just an adult here in Kentucky,
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  you know,
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  our goal is that all Children will lead a safe and healthy life.
• 1:33
  Unfortunately in Kentucky we really have fallen short of that goal Kentucky for three years in a row has the highest rate of child maltreatment in the country from 2000 and 17 to 2019,
• 1:46
  they did just come out with the most recent numbers of 2020 but that was kind of a year that we were all wondering where those numbers were going to go because as we know,
• 1:54
  that's when the pandemic started.
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  And so a lot of reports to child to CPS really declined that year.
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  And yes,
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  we did see a decline of referrals to CPS Um in 2020.
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  And so we,
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  we did have a decrease of rate in child abuse in 2020.
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  We are now fifth in the countries with the highest child abuse rate At 16.7 per 1000 Children.
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  But I worry that that is,
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  it's still an underestimate of the amount of Children that are really victims of child maltreatment.
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  And I think,
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  you know,
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  when you try to look at those numbers,
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  what does that really mean?
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  1?
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  We know it's more than twice the national average.
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  Two,
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  That's one in 61 kids in Kentucky.
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  So every school system,
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  every grade in every school system has a child that's a victim of child maltreatment.
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  So that's a pretty large number.
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  And so what we want to know is,
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  how do we,
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  how do we improve that,
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  what what can I do to help our Children and to and to help those numbers.
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  One of those is understanding what is the most common form of child maltreatment and the most common here is neglect and so I think that understanding that is important.
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  One thing that we do know as well is like the number of Children that have unsafe access to deadly medications is really at an all time high right now.
• 3:19
  And so we have to ensure that we keep medications out of their reach and stored in the locks place um in a safe place and then also recognizing child physical abuse is always very important.
• 3:33
  Do you think that maybe The reason we saw a decline in 2020 is because Children weren't in school and people who might have been normally reporting weren't reporting?
• 3:46
  Yeah.
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  And I think it goes beyond school,
• 3:48
  two people were isolated from each other and a lot of our reports come from people that are outside the home and so not having additional eyes on Children to be able to really get an idea of what was going on greatly declined.
• 4:02
  I will say we do know that some of the severity of child maltreatment one we know it increases at times of,
• 4:09
  of economical stress,
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  but additionally,
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  we we saw a lot of cases of of torture.
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  For example,
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  the kids that present in some of the more serious forms of child maltreatment Did increase in 2020.
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  And so I do really think that a lot of it was just that kids weren't seen outside of the home as much.
• 4:30
  Yeah,
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  this is,
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  this is heartbreaking as a mom and as a grandmother,
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  it just breaks my heart to think that Children are being mistreated and even just neglect is something that really does bother me.
• 4:44
  Um,
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  it is,
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  and it's really hard.
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  All of us have that question then like,
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  you know,
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  it's horrible to hear these numbers and so many times we're like,
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  well it's not my kids.
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  So I know mine is,
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  is fine,
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  but as an adult were responsible for all kids.
• 5:00
  And so that's why if we see something,
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  we need to say something and so we really are all in the position to be able to help other kids and other families.
• 5:09
  Um,
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  I think one of my favorite things that I've heard people say is that we really should support other families instead of just being silent.
• 5:19
  And I think that that's,
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  that's huge.
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  And that is why coast their charities,
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  you know,
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  their goals since they started was really to show kids their potential instead of obstacles.
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  They did develop the basement movement back in 2013,
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  truly focused on preventing and ending child abuse and neglect in Kentucky And with that they,
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  they have over 120 partners in this state right now.
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  And those partners range from physicians,
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  dentists,
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  friskies.
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  Um,
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  hands organization.
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  They're all part of this space,
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  that partnership that caused their charities and Ky a really started back in 2013 and they've made a ton of progress over the past several years well and I think that we tend to say that we don't want to cause harm to a family or make them more uncomfortable.
• 6:10
  But we really have to think about the child and we have to think about the child who is in this situation.
• 6:15
  You know,
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  we don't want to cause more harm to that child and that should be our first priority.
• 6:19
  That is correct.
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  And I do think,
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  you know,
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  I think that helping kids,
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  it's helping parents,
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  right?
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  And so what can we do to help parents that are struggling parenting?
• 6:32
  I think it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
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  I think we've all heard that it takes a village because it truly does take a village to raise Children and no parents just feel like they're doing it alone.
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  And so that's where as a community,
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  we really have to support those caregivers that are struggling,
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  whether that's financially,
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  whether that's with substance use or mental health or they're in a toxic relationship.
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  We,
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  we need to be able to step up and help them or because the kid is throwing a temper tantrum in the checkout line,
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  right?
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  We have to support them.
• 7:08
  You know,
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  there's a very small percentage of people who are harming Children because they want to harm Children mostly.
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  It's because of those outside influences that are causing the situation.
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  And so if we can give them the support that they need,
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  then the harm to the child will naturally take care of itself,
• 7:27
  I think,
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  yes,
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  100% degree,
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  Yes,
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  you've talked about the facebook program and all of these wonderful partners.
• 7:34
  I just have to put a shout out to those friskies because I do know that our family resource and new service centers in our communities have been such a resource for so many families and I know through other talking facts,
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  podcasts,
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  both through our cancer conversations and our Kentucky smiles,
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  podcasts that we have found that the friskies have been wonderful partners for both the College of Dentistry and Market Cancer Center.
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  So I know that,
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  you know,
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  they reach all segments of our communities and I know that there are a great resource all across the commonwealth.
• 8:10
  Yes,
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  they really are.
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  And and so,
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  you know,
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  I think a lot of people wonder what is the basic movement and they do have a lot of resources for providers,
• 8:22
  the community and so that the web pages facing abuse dot org and what The partners have really developed a three pronged approach to prevention of child maltreatment with the first one being policy.
• 8:35
  So how can we strengthen our laws to help protect Children.
• 8:39
  They were involved with ensuring that training that happened across school systems,
• 8:44
  daycares providers that interacted with Children that they were educated on recognizing signs of abuse and they worked on ensuring that there was background checks at schools and youth camps and strengthening those background checks honestly.
• 8:58
  When we first started working on those there were things that I kind of presumed happened that really weren't happening.
• 9:05
  And so those laws have been strengthened this year.
• 9:09
  They're strengthening the child maltreatment reporting laws and so they're continually looking at what policies across the state will really help our Children to be safer and healthier.
• 9:21
  The next one that is also the second tier is best practices and that that kind of fans.
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  A lot of it's a huge spectrum.
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  And so what that means is that we have initiatives that really focus on the positive parenting messages,
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  sharing events,
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  activities,
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  developing materials to really help equip parents.
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  What are those normal developmental milestones,
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  parents should have reasonable expectations for.
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  We're not gonna potty train a six month old that isn't,
• 9:51
  you can't do that their their spinal cord is not developed enough to get that message back to their brain that their bladder is full.
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  So parents need to have those reasonable expectations.
• 10:02
  We've trained,
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  like we said,
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  a lot of professionals and recognizing signs of child maltreatment and then what to do about it if you see it and I think that,
• 10:11
  you know that the oral health community is is still very important.
• 10:15
  A lot of people like,
• 10:16
  well as a dentist,
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  you know,
• 10:18
  I look at their mouth,
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  But what you don't realize is over 89% of child abuse injuries happens either to the head or neck or too exposed arms or legs so that 89% of injuries can be seen in the in the dental office.
• 10:33
  Um it can be seen at the restaurants out um when people are eating or at parties or whatnot.
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  So 89%,
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  that's a huge number of injuries that can be recognized without having to see underneath the child's clothes.
• 10:48
  And so still providing those trainings is very important.
• 10:53
  There are online resources on face its web page including online toolkit for health professionals and recognizing abuse and then what to do and how to report if you have concerns.
• 11:05
  And so that is on facebook abuse dot org as well.
• 11:09
  And then the last prong is the community outreach and awareness.
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  And I think that that's where we really want to talk into,
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  talk about child abuse prevention month.
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  And so,
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  you know,
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  we all think that strong communities is really the key to preventing child maltreatment and that's in all aspects of of what is a community.
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  And so I think that having that community outreach is important.
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  And so reducing parental stress can really help reduce the number of incidents on child abuse.
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  There was a connect pamphlet that was really developed last year to really give tips on how parents can really connect with with their Children across all age groups and then connect with each other as well.
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  And so that's an online resource that is there and then the the community outreach is also developing a lot of programs over the next month.
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  And so april is child abuse prevention month and so every year in april we really try to get the word out on what individuals can do to prevent child maltreatment.
• 12:11
  And so there is a lot of activities throughout the state next month and there is a list of activities on facebook abuse dot org slash c A p M for child abuse prevention month on there where you can find when events are happening and where and how you can participate.
• 12:30
  So for example,
• 12:31
  there there throughout the month there's organizations that are hosting positive parenting events,
• 12:36
  always some of my favorite Yeah,
• 12:38
  I love the positive parenting events and so learn about child development and stages and interactive ways to connect with their Children,
• 12:46
  Putting down the iPhones or the electronics and having dinner and talking to each other tips like that.
• 12:53
  There's going to be a panel conversation on April 12 about reporting child abuse and neglect,
• 12:58
  relationship building with caregivers as an effective tool for crisis prevention as self care and mindfulness workshops,
• 13:05
  how can we be strong parents if we can't really take care of ourselves and so we need,
• 13:11
  we know that that needs to be a priority too.
• 13:13
  And so there's a workshop about that and then another one that's always a passion of mine is how do we help Children who have already been victims overcome what they've been through and truly be resilient and that's another place.
• 13:26
  What we have found is that Children who have suffer a lot of adversity,
• 13:32
  their resiliency is dependent on um having one strong role model in their life and it doesn't have to be a caregiver or blood relatives.
• 13:41
  It can be anybody in the community to be that person.
• 13:44
  And I know that I'm talking um going on quite a bit.
• 13:47
  It's okay that these are great resources and so face it abuse dot org really has a lot of resources online that all of the community partners across the state has been part of developing and ensuring that it's evidence based and what's on their can help families and professionals.
• 14:06
  Well,
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  I think these are all great resources and we will of course provide links to all of these resources that you've mentioned in the show notes because they are so beneficial to everyone,
• 14:17
  not just to the healthcare providers but the public at large.
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  And so we will definitely want to include those.
• 14:24
  Everything that you've shared has been wonderful.
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  Is there anything that you want to just wrap up with as we,
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  as we close out the show.
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  I think that you know,
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  it's not your responsibility to determine if abuse happened or not.
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  It's your responsibility to ensure that it gets looked into.
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  And if you have concern about child maltreatment,
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  every single one of us in Kentucky are responsible and are mandated reporters.
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  And so if you have concern for abuse or neglect,
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  um,
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  you can call 1877 Ky safe one to report that.
• 14:58
  That's 1877 ky safe one.
• 15:01
  And we will also put that number in the show notes so that that's easy to access as well.
• 15:07
  Dr howard.
• 15:08
  I really appreciate you taking the time to share with us today and this information is going to be so important to our listeners to share with their families and anyone else that they might come into contact with because as you said,
• 15:20
  we are all responsible for the health and welfare of our Children.
• 15:24
  Thank you for giving me the time today.
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  And as you can see it's something I'm very passionate about.
• 15:29
  Yes,
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  definitely.
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  And I love that about you.
• 15:32
  If you are just tuning in,
• 15:34
  you are listening to Kentucky smiles on talking facts and we are available wherever you get your favorite podcast.
• 15:42
  Thank you for listening to Kentucky smiles on talking facts.
• 15:45
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• 15:50
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• 15:53
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