Two locals tapped for child abuse panel
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Two Pittsburgh representatives named to a special task force to review the state's child-abuse laws in the wake of the Penn State University sex abuse scandal say they are eager to add their expertise and experiences to a discussion that is long overdue.
Rachel Berger, a physician at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, and William Strickland, president and CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corp., were among the lawyers, doctors, social workers and other experts tapped for the panel, which will study how child abuse is reported and how laws and training can be improved.
The state House and Senate formed the 11-member panel in response to the scandal in which former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period.
But problems with state laws and reporting practices existed long before then, said Dr. Berger, who often sees the problems firsthand in her work on the Child Protection Team at Children's. She and others in her field have sought such a task force for years, she said.
Dr. Berger's patients are children who have been abused by adults, but too often, she said, their injuries do not count as abuse by the state's definition, which she described as the narrowest in the country. She cited 2010 data that showed that only about 3,800 of 4 million Pennsylvania children were considered abuse victims by the state's definition, far fewer than are classified as abused in other states.
Part of the reason, she added, is that abuse, even that which proves to be fatal, isn't counted as such in the state's total if a perpetrator can't be determined.
Problems with reporting child abuse also abound.
The state's child abuse reporting hot line received more than 120,000 calls in 2010, but fewer than 25,000 yielded an investigation. Dr. Berger said there are concerns in her field about the hot line dropping calls and that expanding mandatory reporting of abuse could overwhelm the system. What types of problems must be reported and who must report them remain murky areas, Dr. Berger said. This is especially true for colleges and universities, she said, where it is not always clear who is considered a mandated reporter and which agency should be informed of abuse and neglect.
There are also concerns that people who work with children may be reluctant to report abuse if they don't perceive it as helping a child, Dr. Berger said.
"These are complicated issues that it's time to sit down and talk about," said Dr. Berger, who was picked for the panel by the Senate. The system "is not completely broken, it's just, how can we protect children better and protect more children to make the system work more frequently?"
The task force has until the end of November to issue findings and recommendations.
Mr. Strickland, selected by Gov. Tom Corbett for the panel, said he, too, looks forward to sharing his insight, which includes 40 years of educational experience with the Bidwell Training Center on the North Side.
He said Bidwell, which offers career training for high school graduates, has not seen a drug, alcohol or police incident.
"We've built a safe haven," Mr. Strickland said. "We've created an educational environment that allows people to feel like they belong somewhere. ... That's the kind of culture that prevents abuse."
First Published January 16, 2012 12:00 am
