EPISODE SUMMARY:

As professionals in the child abuse field, we all know that child sexual abuse has no boundaries. In the United States, CACs and MDTs are doing amazing and innovative work to provide a collaborative response to promote healing for children and families.

But have you ever thought about the issue of child sexual abuse globally and how it affects middle and low-income countries? In this episode, Abbie Newman, RN, JD with Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center joins Tony to talk about the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN). She shares a project that ISPCAN is leading to develop a trauma-informed collaborative response to child abuse and how this work has influenced Mission Kids and the children and families they serve.

Topics in this episode

• International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) (3:52)
• Global Issue of Child Abuse (5:15)
• Overview of Collaborative Response Project led by ISPCAN (9:04)
• Challenges Developing a Response in Middle to Low-Income Countries (12:10)
• Project Goals (16:11)
• Objectives (18:05)
• Implementation (25:17)
• Timeline (26:47)
• ISPCAN Influence and Impact on Mission Kids (27:30)
• Get Involved (28:41)

GUEST

Abbie Newman, RN, JD, the CEO of Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center (MKCAC), began her career as a registered pediatric nurse before practicing law for 19 years. She became the founding executive director of MKCAC in 2008 and built the collaborative multidisciplinary team into a nationally accredited CAC. Since then, MKCAC has provided over 6,000 forensic interviews, and made over 1000 mental and 1000 medical referrals. Further, MKCAC has provided targeted prevention education to more than 47,000 children, adolescents, teachers, and multidisciplinary partners and become a leader in developing responses to CSEC and working with stakeholders statewide in the best interests of these victims.

In 2018, Abbie became CEO of MKCAC, driving innovative thought leadership statewide, nationally, and internationally to help victims of child abuse, including victims of commercial sexual exploitation. She is past-President and a current member of the Pennsylvania Chapter of CACs’ Board of Directors. Initially appointed by Governor Corbett in 2014 to Pennsylvania’s Victim Services Advisory Committee, charged with awarding state funds to established and developing CACs, Abbie was reappointed by Governor Wolf in 2018. She became an elected member of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN)’s Distinguished Advisory Committee in 2021 and, in this capacity, is leading a project to develop an international framework for collaborative responses to child sexual abuse (CSA) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to be adaptable to other forms of child abuse and neglect. Abbie has also spearheaded research in partnership with global experts in the field of child abuse, drawing from the work of Mission Kids’ multidisciplinary team. Results of these projects have been published as peer-reviewed articles in Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, reaching thousands of professionals around the globe.

Abbie remains passionate about working with state and national level legislators to strengthen child protection laws, increase funding to agencies serving victims of child abuse and neglect, and develop and sustain CACs as a model for child abuse investigation and prevention. She presents nationally and internationally on CSA and collaborative responses to child maltreatment and has forged international partnerships to respond to child abuse, globally. Abbie’s signature tagline, for years, has been English philosopher Edmund Burke’s, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.” Her ultimate vision is to see collaborative efforts help all children triumph over trauma, regardless of locale or circumstance, so they can live up to their full potential.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

• The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect: https://www.ispcan.org
• ISPCAN Case Statement and Collaborative Framework Project Concept Note: https://assets.libsyn.com/show/159677/ISPCAN-Collaborative-Framework-Project-Concept-Note.pdf
• Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center: https://missionkidscac.org
• Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/vacs/index.html
• Northeast Regional Children’s Advocacy Center: https://www.nrcac.org
• Regional Children’s Advocacy Centers: https://www.regionalcacs.org

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 15PJDP-22-GK-03061-JJVO awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.