(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) More than 500 leading medical, forensic, mental-health and social-work professionals from California and the nation will convene at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento April 10-12 to present research findings and increase their knowledge and practice skills in treating child abuse and neglect.
"Thanks to the increase in awareness and resources to help families and victims of child abuse and neglect, there has been a slight decline in the number of reported cases over the past five years," says Marilyn Peterson, director of the Child and Adolescent Resource and Evaluation (CAARE) Center at UC Davis Health System. "In 1999, California county welfare departments responded to 622,000 reports of child abuse and neglect, compared with 689,005 in 1995. The majority of abuse and neglect cases, about 60 percent, continue to involve children 10 years of age or younger.
"However, there are a few new twists. For instance, five years ago, we didn't think of sexual predators as lurking on the Internet, nor did we really recognize the explosion of methampetamine production and distribution and how it would affect children living in the homes that were turned into meth labs. In addition, we are seeing a rise in pockets of abuse, such as aggression in young males and self-mutilation. This comprehensive conference enables a variety of professionals in the abuse and neglect field to discuss and hopefully communicate prevention strategies to reverse these alarming new trends," Peterson said.
The conference will feature a nationally recognized keynote speaker each of the three days.
John Briere, associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, will deliver the opening-day keynote address on "Child Abuse as a Major Mental Health Factor in American Society." Briere also will be conducting a workshop on understanding and preventing self-mutilation, including the use of tat
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Contact: Martha Alcott
martha.alcott@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
916-734-9027
University of California, Davis - Health System
29-Mar-2001