TY - JOUR
T1 - Progress report on the development of child abuse prevention, identification, and treatment systems in Eastern Europe
AU - Lewis, Owen
AU - Sargent, John
AU - Chaffin, Mark
AU - Friedrich, William N.
AU - Cunningham, Nicholas
AU - Cantor, Pamela
AU - Coffey, Pamela Sumner
AU - Villani, Susan
AU - Beard, Philip R.
AU - Clifft, Mary Ann
AU - Greenspun, David
N1 - Funding Information:
Some NGOs have received funding and materials as a result of team members’ contacts with other countries. Examples of new funding include: Estonia, support from the Israel Embassy for the Baltic States, Queen Silvia Fund of Sweden, and the British Embassy; Latvia, from the Swedish Ministry of Health, the Canadian and Dutch Embassies; and Croatia, support from American Embassy funds and active fund raising by the spouse of the former American Ambassador to Croatia.
PY - 2004/1
Y1 - 2004/1
N2 - Problem: After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1989, it became apparent that there was little recognition of the problems of child abuse and neglect, professionally, legally, or societally. There were no effective systems or laws in place to deal with these problems. Method: Beginning in 1995 the Children's Mental Health Alliance, in conjunction with the Open Society Institute began conducting trainings in Eastern Europe [Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry 39 (2000) 660]. Originally 18 countries from the Baltics to the Balkans participated. A program was elaborated which would proceed in several stages: (1) training mental health professionals to deal with child abuse and neglect (CAN); (2) teaching multidisciplinary team work and fostering the development of multidisciplinary NGOs focused on CAN; (3) promoting the self-sufficiency of these NGO's which would then facilitate social and legal reform and increase public awareness of the problem. Specific methods included multi-national trainings, assignment of mentors to the developing teams who maintained weekly contact with the teams and made yearly site visits to their countries, and overseeing project grants from OSI. Results: NGO's had been established and registered in 11 countries, many establishing a network of programs within their countries. By 2000, over 3800 mental health professional had been trained, either directly by the program or by the trainees of the program. By the end of 2000, over 17,000 other professionals (lawyers, police, judges, educators, other physicians, etc.) had been trained by the network. Conclusion: While more work needs to be in this region, the teams in 11 countries have made solid starts.
AB - Problem: After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1989, it became apparent that there was little recognition of the problems of child abuse and neglect, professionally, legally, or societally. There were no effective systems or laws in place to deal with these problems. Method: Beginning in 1995 the Children's Mental Health Alliance, in conjunction with the Open Society Institute began conducting trainings in Eastern Europe [Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry 39 (2000) 660]. Originally 18 countries from the Baltics to the Balkans participated. A program was elaborated which would proceed in several stages: (1) training mental health professionals to deal with child abuse and neglect (CAN); (2) teaching multidisciplinary team work and fostering the development of multidisciplinary NGOs focused on CAN; (3) promoting the self-sufficiency of these NGO's which would then facilitate social and legal reform and increase public awareness of the problem. Specific methods included multi-national trainings, assignment of mentors to the developing teams who maintained weekly contact with the teams and made yearly site visits to their countries, and overseeing project grants from OSI. Results: NGO's had been established and registered in 11 countries, many establishing a network of programs within their countries. By 2000, over 3800 mental health professional had been trained, either directly by the program or by the trainees of the program. By the end of 2000, over 17,000 other professionals (lawyers, police, judges, educators, other physicians, etc.) had been trained by the network. Conclusion: While more work needs to be in this region, the teams in 11 countries have made solid starts.
KW - Child abuse
KW - Eastern Europe
KW - Mental health training
KW - Post-Soviet transition
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U2 - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2002.11.001
DO - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2002.11.001
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 15019441
AN - SCOPUS:10744226933
SN - 0145-2134
VL - 28
SP - 93
EP - 111
JO - Child Abuse and Neglect
JF - Child Abuse and Neglect
IS - 1
ER -