Joining Forces Joining Families, Spring 2020 – Expert medical consultation on child maltreatment

The focus of this JFJF is expert medical consultation on child abuse and neglect cases. We present an interview with Barbara R. Craig, M.D., a child abuse pediatrician who established the Armed Forces Center for Child Protection (AFCCP), located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD. The interview describes the range of services AFCCP staff provide to health care providers (HPCs), criminal investigators, and attorneys involved in the treatment, investigation, or prosecution of incidents of child maltreatment DoD-wide. Additional related articles include a review of medical conditions which health care providers may mistakenly label as child abuse, or conversely, fail to report despite having suspicions. Furthermore, we offer a review of how the use of clinical prediction rules are helping HCPs identify and more thoroughly evaluate cases of suspected child maltreatment, Finally, we conclude with a review of individual and organizational factors which can help mitigate secondary traumatic stress (STS) related burnout among HPCs and forensic interviewers with high exposure to child maltreatment. Websites of Interest include the AFCCP website which provides contact information and a brief overview of the services they offer, as well as National Children’s Alliance (NCA) website with special emphasis on their efforts to establish partnerships and collaboration between Children’s Advocacy Centers and military installations.