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CAPNET is a multicenter child abuse pediatrics research network developed to support research that will make the medical care of potentially abused children more effective, safe, and fair. CAPNET currently collects detailed clinical data from child physical abuse evaluations from 11 leading pediatric centers across the U.S. From its inception, the goal of CAPNET was to support multiple research studies addressing the care of children undergoing evaluations for physical abuse and to create a flexible data collection and quality assurance system to be a resource for the wider community of child maltreatment l researchers. Annually, CAPNET collects rich clinical data on over 4000 children evaluated due to concerns for physical abuse. CAPNET's data are well-suited to studies improving the standardization, equity, and accuracy of evaluations in the medical setting when child physical abuse is suspected. Here we describe CAPNET's development, content, lessons learned, and potential future directions of the network.
Many children and families do not have access to specialized pediatric health care, including child abuse pediatricians. Medical evaluations in cases of suspected child maltreatment including physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect are a critical component of the multidisciplinary team response to these concerns. We review the role of child abuse pediatricians in cases of suspected child maltreatment. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of current models of care including co-location of child abuse specialists within children's advocacy centers, hospital-based medical evaluation programs and community-based clinics. We review barriers to universal and equitable access to specialized care. We then highlight the significance of telemedicine as an important tool for improving access to care for children who would not otherwise have access.
Child maltreatment (CM) is a pervasive public health problem and there is a critical need for brief, effective, scalable prevention programs. Because problematic parent-child relationships lie at the core of CM, interventions targeting this relationship hold promise as CM prevention strategies. Evidence-based positive parenting interventions, as discussed here, are manualized behavioral interventions that focus on teaching caregivers positive parenting skills and techniques to improve the effectiveness of their parenting and improve their relationship with their child. In this article, we describe one specific parenting intervention, Child Adult Relationship Enhancement in Primary Care (PriCARE)/Criando Niños con CARIÑO, and review the proposed mechanisms through which PriCARE may contribute to CM prevention. PriCARE is a 6-session group parenting intervention for parents of 2-to-6-year-old children. PriCARE was developed and iteratively adapted with input from racially and ethnically diverse families, including low-income families, and was designed specifically for implementation in primary care with inclusion of strategies to align with usual care workflow to increase uptake and retention. PriCARE has the potential to reduce risk of CM directly through improving parenting behaviors and indirectly through the impact of those changes in parenting behaviors on child behaviors. PriCARE has also been shown to reduce parenting-related stress. Finally, by strengthening and bringing warmth to the parent-child relationship, PriCARE may buffer against the negative health consequences associated with CM and childhood adversity.
Substance use disorders (SUD) among caregiving adults has inexorable linkage to the health and well-being of millions of children in the U.S. This piece provides an overview of such linkages, examples of relevant policies and regulations, and the role of pediatric healthcare within the health trajectories of children and families at this intersection. A commonality throughout this work is need for non-stigmatizing engagement and support to facilitate connections to care and reduce barriers.
Recent years have elucidated that trafficking in the pediatric population constitutes a broader pattern of child maltreatment. Given the inconsistent engagement with the medical system that trafficked youth can experience, there is growing advocacy promoting streamlined provision of specialized services. One innovative example includes the Adolescent Protection Collaborative (APC) launched at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 2021. The APC was conceptualized to serve the overlapping populations of youth impacted by sex trafficking victimization and child welfare involvement. In an effort to consolidate care and address a range of needs across the biopsychosocial spectrum, the APC brought together a child abuse pediatrician, adolescent medicine physician, and social worker to provide coordinated, real-time care during each clinic visit. It is hoped that the APC may represent a novel approach to balancing the medico-legal aspects of trafficking aftercare with the youth-empowering features of adolescent medicine and social care.