Network News
Co-fund Miyamoto, Smeal students team up to address business challenges for SAFE-T Center
May 9, 2018When the Penn State College of Nursing launched the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Telehealth (SAFE-T) Center in 2016, it envisioned a solution to enhance access to compassionate sexual assault care in underserved communities. What they still needed: a plan to sustain the center’s operations beyond the initial funding period. With support from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime, the SAFE-T Center started a virtual training lab for rural nurses and began planning a pilot study including four hospital sites that would become part of a statewide partnership model. “This partnership provides communities with expertise and support that can ultimately improve care for victims of assault,” said Sheridan Miyamoto, assistant professor of nursing and principal investigator with the SAFE-T Center. “It is imperative that we be able to sustain valued services in our partner communities. We needed a proactive plan to prepare to scale in order to sustain this work.” Miyamoto approached David Lenze, director of the Applied Professional Experience (APEX) program in the Smeal College of Business, to discuss options for getting help with developing a sustainable business plan. Lenze’s idea: to make the SAFE-T Center one of the capstone projects for Smeal’s Sapphire Leadership Academic Program, a leadership development program for high-achieving Smeal students who want to enhance their academic experience. “Sapphire provides a richer, more robust experience for a select group of students,” said Lenze, an instructor in management and organization at Smeal. “While all students at Smeal are required to complete a capstone course during their final year, the APEX practicum was created specifically for the Sapphire students, to give them an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills from their course work to real-world problems.” For the APEX capstone, Sapphire students work in teams to address a business challenge faced by a real organization. Under Lenze’s supervision, the teams take advantage of the wide variety of resources at Penn State — from its renowned faculty to its vast alumni network and library system — to conduct a competitive analysis and provide clear, actionable recommendations. The team assigned to the SAFE-T Center included two finance majors, John George and Hailey Kaunert; a marketing major, Sami Evans; and a supply chain and iInformation systems major, Erika Veiszlemlein. In addition to the cross-functional expertise of the Smeal students, Miyamoto and Lenze felt the team would benefit from the perspective of someone who understood nursing culture. They invited Liz Ruta, a senior nursing student, to join them. Ruta, who had previously taken Miyamoto’s course in child maltreatment and advocacy studies, felt the Sapphire project was an ideal opportunity to collaborate on an interdisciplinary team. “It got me out of my comfort zone and helped me see an issue from a different perspective,” she said. “And I liked that it was very community oriented.” In addition to earning independent study credits, Ruta used the project to complete clinical hours for the Community Health Nursing course taught by Beth Cutezo, assistant teaching professor in the College of Nursing. “Liz played a key role in lending her expertise to the project, which helped her prepare for the real world of practice,” Cutezo said. “And collaborating with other professional disciplines as part of a goal-oriented team enriched her learning.” Ruta took part in nursing-specific aspects of the project, such as attending a two-day orientation and training for virtual teleforensic nurses (VTNs) who would provide actual patient services. Overall, the team had weekly interactions with SAFE-T Center staff and stakeholders to collaboratively address the challenges they faced. The culmination of the project was a 20-page business plan that the team presented to the SAFE-T Center’s statewide advisory board during its biannual meeting April 17. The plan featured a thorough analysis of the center’s needs and goals, its value drivers and cost structure, and a detailed proposal for funding sources, payment options and organizational partnerships. “We are confident our products and services bring value to many stakeholders, including patients, providers, society, law enforcement and government,” the team concluded. “The long-term sustainability of our program depends on our ability to secure financial stability from various funding sources.” Miyamoto felt the team’s effort was “exceedingly professional” and helped the staff and board conceptualize what would be needed to sustain its operations on an annual basis. “They answered some of the board members’ questions and addressed the next steps for the SAFE-T Center,” she said. “They sought feedback and really drove the process.” Lenze, for his part, felt the inclusion of a non-business student was a great enhancement to the APEX experience. “In their future careers, all of our students will need to work effectively in cross-functional teams. This project gave them the opportunity to do just that,” he said. “We hope to build on the project’s success and create more intercollege experiential collaborations in the future.”
CMAS minor Hannah Yeager amoung HHD student marshals
May 3, 2018Erika Exton, daughter of Ralph Erik Exton and Debra Exton, both of Horsham, Pennsylvania, will be the Health and Human Development college marshal for the spring 2018 commencement ceremony on May 5. Exton is receiving a bachelor of science degree in communication sciences and disorders from Penn State. As a student, she was a member, family relations chair, and president of Springfield benefiting THON, a special-interest organization that raises funds for the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon. She also served as a teaching assistant for Leadership JumpStart, a freshman honors seminar; a member of the Presidential Leadership Academy; and a research assistant for the Bilingualism and Language Development Laboratory. She completed an undergraduate fellowship through a Partnerships for International Research and Education grant and the Center for Language Science, conducting research in the Netherlands. Exton is the recipient of the President’s Freshman Award, Sparks Award and Evan Pugh Senior Award; and Communication Disorders, Academic Excellence, and Ruth B. Wodock scholarships. A Schreyer Honors Scholar, Exton conducted the thesis project, “Lexical Decision and Semantic Relatedness Judgment Processing.” Exton is also earning a bachelor of arts degree in linguistics through the Letters, Arts, and Sciences program in Liberal Arts and completed a minor in mathematics. She plans to attend graduate school in the fall to pursue a doctorate. The following students will serve as program marshals for the academic majors and ROTC within the College of Health and Human Development. Athletic Training Claire Kelly, daughter of Tim and Nancy Kelly of Essex Junction, Vermont, was the primary Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon chair for the Kinesiology Club, a member of the Athletic Training Club, and an undergraduate learning assistant for Kinesiology courses 202, 334 and 335. Kelly was also a member of the College of Health and Human Development Honors Society and interned for the Pittsburgh Steelers. She was a recipient of the Sayers "Bud" Miller Jr. Memorial Award. Following graduation, Kelly will work as an athletic trainer before applying to graduate schools to pursue a career as a surgical orthopedic physician assistant. Biobehavioral Health Kelsey Nestro, daughter of Eugene and Tina Nestro of Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, served as a member of Penn State CHAARG, a rules and regulations committee member for Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, a team leader for Fresh START, and a research assistant for the Geier Lab for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. She volunteered with Weer Africa to assemble free health clinics in rural villages in Senegal, West Africa, as part of her Global Health Minor. She is a recipient of the President's Freshman Award, President Sparks Award, Evan Pugh Scholar Junior Award, and Evan Pugh Scholar Senior Award. Following graduation, Nestro will attend Tufts University to pursue a master of science degree in occupational therapy. Communication Sciences And Disorders Ann Marie Gardner, daughter of Michael and Donna Gardner of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, served as a direct support professional for adults with special needs at Strawberry Fields; resident assistant for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Summer Academy; presenter for the Blind and Visually Impaired Summer Academy; guided study group leader for statistics courses at Penn State World Campus; program coordinator for Penn State Learning; lead presenter and trainer of tutoring at Penn State Learning; nonprofit fundraiser, supervisor and recruiter with Penn State Lion Line; student manager at Penn State Conference Services; and Medical Counselor at Upward Bound Programs. Gardner also volunteered as an American Sign Language instructor at Discovery Space and as an English language tutor at the Mid-state Literacy Council; and served as teaching assistant for seven different courses and as a research assistant in six Penn State laboratories. She was a scholar in the Summer Undergraduate Research Institute, protégé in the Health and Human Development Alumni Mentoring Program, leader of the Associate Dean's Advisory Board, and mentor of LifeLink PSU. She received several honors, including the Bunton-Waller Fellowship Award and Alumni Recognition Award for Student Excellence. Following graduation, Gardner plans to attend Penn State to pursue a master’s degree in speech language pathology. Health Policy And Administration Katie Smith, daughter of Jo and Carlton Shank of York Haven, Pennsylvania, served as a HealthWorks peer health educator and Health Policy and Administration peer writing tutor. She served on the HealthWorks Eating Disorder and Body Image Team, THON Special Events Committee, and with Penn State Navigators. She was also a blog writer for the Female Athlete Triad Coalition. She is a member of Upsilon Phi Delta Honors Society. She received a first place award in Penn State’s 2017 HHD Alumni Society Research Poster Competition and a second place award in Penn State's 2017 Undergraduate Research Exhibition. Smith is the recipient of several scholarships, including the Philip McCarty Scholarship, Virginia L. Mayers Memorial Scholarship, Francis Hoffman Award for Writing Excellence, Robert A. Love Memorial, and Society of Distinguished Alumni Trustee Academic Excellence Scholarship. A Schreyer Honors Scholar, Smith conducted a thesis project, “Direct Primary Care: An Emerging Delivery Model for U.S. Health Care.” Following graduation, Smith will be working as a mental health technician in the children's inpatient unit at The Meadows, a behavioral health treatment facility located in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania. Hospitality Management Lindsay Empfield, daughter of Jeffrey and Ann Empfield of Shavertown, Pennsylvania, served as vice president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association Penn State Chapter, food and beverage chair of the School of Hospitality Management THON student club, and student government representative for the Business Club at Penn State. She is also a graduate of Intercollegiate Leadership Wilkes-Barre. She is a member of Eta Sigma Delta Honor Society and recipient of the Evan Pugh Scholar Award and Louis E. and Patricia Harvey Silvi Scholarship. A Schreyer Honors Scholar, Empfield conducted a thesis project, “The Effects on Consumers of Rate Negotiation in Hotels.” Following graduation, Empfield will be moving to Bethesda, Maryland, to work for Marriott International as a revenue manager. Human Development And Family Studies Hannah Yeager, daughter of Bud and Dawn Crandall of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Kevin Yeager and Julia Johnson of Lexington, Kentucky, was a dancer relations committee member of Penn State's IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon; a program assistant for Discover House, a special living option in Beaver Hall for undecided freshmen residents; a Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters; and treasurer and vice president for the Human Development and Family Studies Undergraduate Student Organization. Yeager was also a member of the Ambitions Dance Team, an extern with The Nurse Family Partnership, and a reunification advocate intern at The Youth Services Bureau. Yeager is a recipient of the Lydia A. Gerhardt Child Development Memorial Scholarship, Mary Burket Morrow Scholarship, Edith Pitt Chace Award, Evan Pugh Scholar Award, President Sparks Award, President's Freshman Award, and Alumni Association Trustee Scholarship for the Lake Erie Chapter of Penn State. Following graduation, Yeager plans to pursue opportunities that allow her to positively impact adversely affected people. Kinesiology Samantha Kronenbitter, daughter of Steven and Kathleen Kronenbitter of Holland, Pennsylvania, served as a programming committee member of the Kinesiology Club and merchandise committee member of Penn State's IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon. She was a member of the Women’s Leadership Initiative and volunteered at Phoenix Rehabilitation and Health Services. She is the recipient of the President’s Freshman Award, President Sparks Award, and Evan Pugh Scholar Award. Following graduation, Kronenbitter plans to pursue a doctor of physical therapy degree at Arcadia University. Nutritional Sciences Carissa Heine, daughter of Robert and Jill Heine of New Holland, Pennsylvania, was co-founder of the Student Farm Club and was a farm intern at the Student Farm at Penn State. She also served as a member of the Penn State Student Sustainability Advisory Council and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She is the recipient of the Alumni Recognition for Student Excellence Award and Mary Burket Morrow Scholarship, Karen Louise Weber Scholarship, and Mary Boyle Weaver and Rebecca Boyle Sutherland Scholarships in the College of Health and Human Development, as well as the Provost Fund Scholarship, LORD Academic Excellence Scholarship and Schreyer Honors College Academic Excellence Scholarship. A Schreyer Honors Scholar, Heine conducted a thesis project, “Using Positive Deviance by Micronutrient Status to Identify Differences in Food Behaviors in Women of Reproductive Age in Ghana.” Following graduation, Heine plans to pursue a dietetic internship with a public health emphasis to become a registered dietitian. Recreation, Park, And Tourism Management Aubrey Tallon, daughter of Robin Tallon of Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania, and Joseph Tallon of Centre Hall, Pennsylvania, was a member of the RPTM Student Society, volunteer for Shaver’s Creek Raptor Center, and counselor and learning group leader for Shaver’s Creek Outdoor School. She is the recipient of the Alumni Recognition for Student Excellence Award in the College of Health and Human Development, and the Evan Pugh Scholar Award. She is the recipient of the Schumacher Honors Scholarship, Pennsylvania Outdoor Writer’s Association Scholarship, AAUW State College Branch Scholarship, Fred M. Coombs Scholarship, and Thomas W. and Jane Mason Tewksbury Trustee Scholarship. A Schreyer Honors Scholar, Tallon conducted a thesis project, “Only I Can Sexualize Me: Examining Themes of Empowerment in Northeastern Renaissance Faires.” Currently, she works as an environmental education intern at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center. Following graduation, Tallon plans to move to Tennessee to work as an experiential education intern for the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Bailey Moore, daughter of Paul and Wendi Moore of Ashburn, Virginia, is receiving a bachelor of science degree in human development and family studies. In addition to the Army ROTC, she served as a member of the Cadet Recruitment Team and Kaizen. She also served as an executive team member and campus Bible study leader for DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship, and she was a youth and children’s ministry volunteer and community outreach intern at Calvary Church. She is the recipient of several honors, including the Army ROTC Veterans of Foreign Wars Academic Excellence Award and the Special Forces Association’s William A. Will Memorial Chapter 67, MSG Kenneth C. Gillin Memorial Scholarship. Following graduation, she will serve in the U.S. Army Reserves as an adjutant general officer. She plans to apply to graduate school for school counseling upon completion of training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, this fall.
Solutions Network Awareness Event focuses on the foster care system
Apr 30, 2018Penn State’s Child Maltreatment Solutions Network recently hosted “Building Resilience and Hope,” and brought together researchers, advocates, public servants, and foster youth to discuss Pennsylvania’s foster care system and strategies for supporting youth in pursuit of a college education. Jennie Noll, director of the Network and professor of human development and family studies, opened the event and introduced Penn State’s new Fostering Lions Program. “This program will be available to Penn State students who received foster care, and they will have access to academic, social and emotional support, as well as logistical and financial support throughout their time at Penn State so that they can achieve their academic goals,” Noll explained. The program is being launched at University Park with plans to expand to the Commonwealth Campuses across Pennsylvania. Tarah Toohil, State Representative and graduate of Penn State Dickinson Law, described her experience with Pennsylvania foster care as both a sister and mother, and gave her professional perspective of trying to catalyze change through legislation. During the keynote, Sharon McDaniel, founder, president and chief executive officer of A Second Chance, Inc., and a Penn State alumnus, also shared her personal story in kinship care, as well as her work in the child welfare system. She offered advice for those who work with foster youth. “How you see me will determine how you treat me. We have to shift the way we see the situation,” she said. McDaniel encouraged the crowd to shift the paradigm to fixing the system and setting up supports for foster youth to flourish in interdependence. A student panel discussion led by Stacy Johnson, director of Child and Family Services Permanency & Community Engagement, A Second Chance, Inc., consisted of three foster care alumni. They recounted how their time in the foster care system impacted their transitions into college, their college experiences, and their lives today. The panelists agreed that support systems and advocates on college campuses to help students navigate the paths to and through college are vital. Continuing the topic of challenges for entering and thriving in college were independent living coordinators Stephanie Salvatori of Lycoming County and Mary Ann Zimmerman of Centre County. They offered examples of foster youth overcoming obstacles to enter college, and how some have succeeded in completing their degrees while others have dropped out. Their accounts emphasized the necessity of programs like Fostering Lions on college campuses. The final speaker, Lucy Johnston-Walsh, director of the Penn State’s Children’s Advocacy Clinic and the Center on Children and the Law, and professor of clinical law, spoke of recent changes to Pennsylvania’s foster care laws and the effects on her foster youth clients; discussed which policies and laws could be improved; and offered ideas on laws that should be implemented to better aid foster youth. All speakers and panelists came together to conclude the event with a full-panel discussion where they engaged with the audience and answered questions. Sharon McDaniel ended the day’s presentations with one last bit of guidance — “Nothing about us without us" — to underscore her hope that foster youth and alumni would be consulted, and hired, in the process of creating new programs and laws that impact their lives. This event was sponsored by the Human Development & Family Studies’ Vladimir de Lissovoy Program Support Endowment for the Protection of Children and the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, a unit of Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute.
Hymel's research into racial and ethnic disparities in the evaluation and reporting of head trauma
Apr 16, 2018The paper, Racial and Ethnic Disparities and Bias in the Evaluation and Reporting of Abusive Head Trauma, by Solutions Network cofund Kent Hymel, along with Antoinette L. Laskey, Kathryn R. Crowell, Ming Wang, Veronica Armijo-Garcia, Terra N. Frazier, Kelly S. Tieves, Robin Foster, and Kerri Weeks, was published in the Journal of Pediatrics online on March 29, 2018. The study's goal was to characterize racial and ethnic disparities in the evaluation and reporting of suspected abusive head trauma (AHT) across the 18 participating sites of the Pediatric Brain Injury Research Network (PediBIRN). The researchers hypothesized that such disparities would be confirmed at multiple sites and occur more frequently in patients with a lower risk for AHT. In the PediBIRN study sample of 500 young, acutely head-injured patients hospitalized for intensive care, minority race/ethnicity patients were more frequently evaluated and reported for suspected AHT than white/non-Hispanic patients. These disparities occurred almost exclusively in lower risk patients, including those ultimately categorized as non-AHT or with an estimated AHT probability.
Solutions Network researcher funded to study cardiovascular disease risk in children
Mar 26, 2018Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes over 30 percent of all deaths in the U.S. and its roots can be found even in children. Hannah Schreier, Child Maltreatment Solutions Network co-funded faculty member and assistant professor of biobehavioral health, was recently awarded a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study the potential effect of a coparenting interventions to reduce CVD risk markers in children. The project will build on the existing Family Foundations project, a perinatal intervention focused on coparenting developed by Mark Feinberg, research professor of health and human development in the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Center. Schreier’s recently funded grant aims to examine the psychosocial pathways within families that influence child and parent CVD risk as well as potential intervention effects of the Family Foundations program on CVD risk. To do so, the researchers will conduct home visits with approximately 294 families across the country and collect data via questionnaires and family interactions. Additionally, researchers will collect baseline blood pressure and dried blood spot samples for the assessment of metabolic and inflammatory CVD risk markers from all family members. According to Schreier, the project has the potential to increase our knowledge of how the psychosocial family environment influences CVD risk and whether a psychosocial intervention can reduce these risks. “By examining the moderating role of lifetime adversity and socioeconomic status, we will be able to inform future intervention research to unlock the potential of such interventions to reduce socioeconomic CVD disparities.”
Building resilience and hope in foster children awareness event April 7
Mar 19, 2018In America today, there are nearly 400,000 children in the foster care system. Although they can face many challenges, positive experiences during PreK-12 education may offset abusive or neglectful treatment. Foster youth who continue into college are better prepared for adulthood and more likely to achieve economic independence and improved quality of life. "Building Resilience and Hope," an annual awareness event presented by Penn State's Child Maltreatment Solutions Network and the Human Development and Family Studies Vladimir de Lissovoy Program Support Endowment for the Protection of Children, will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 7, in the Founder's Room of the Bryce Jordan Center at University Park. To kick off the event, Jennie Noll, professor of human development and family studies and director of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, will introduce Penn State’s new Fostering Lions Program, followed by remarks from Penn State alumnus and Pennsylvania State Representative Tarah Toohil. Sharon McDaniel, Penn State alumnus and founder, president and CEO of A Second Chance, Inc., is the featured keynote speaker and will discuss her non-profit’s work with foster care and how kinship care can positively impact foster children. Stacy Johnson, director of Child and Family Services Permanency & Community Engagement at A Second Chance, will then lead a student panel of foster youth sharing their journeys from foster care through college. Other speakers include Lucy Johnston-Walsh, director of the Center on Children and the Law and the director of the Children’s Advocacy Center at Penn State Dickinson Law; and Independent Living Coordinators Stephanie Salvatori and Mary Ann Zimmerman. The day will conclude with a full panel discussion about support for children through the foster care system into and during college for success in adulthood. For those interested in attending, please register here. This event is funded through Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute and the Human Development and Family Studies’ Vladimir de Lissovoy Program Support Endowment for the Protection of Children.
2018 Summer Research Institute Announcement and Call for Applications
Feb 23, 2018The 26th Annual Summer Research Institute (SRI) will be held in 2018 on May 31, June 1, June 4, and June 5 as an online distance learning experience. Applications to participate in the 2018 SRI are due on or before March 15, 2018. Please download the SRI 2018 Application (PDF) from our application page, and visit our Summer Research Institute page for more information. Summer Research Institute The Summer Research Institute is an online distance learning experience held by NDACAN to achieve the following goals: Identify early-career scholars who are doing secondary analyses of NDACAN data that have the potential to make valuable contributions to the empirical research literature. Create a collegial and collaborative setting in which SRI participants come together to dedicate one week of focused effort on their projects. Provide support and training to participants regarding use of NDACAN datasets. Hold learning sessions around methodological or statistical issues of general interest to participants. Users of NDACAN data will apply for the SRI and after a selective review process, a group of up to 20 scholars will be invited to participate. NDACAN staff and SRI participants will convene online on the dates above for a series of virtual meetings. These meetings will involve the following formats: SRI-wide events including all SRI participants Scheduled one-on-one consultations with NDACAN staff, directors, and consultants Scheduled and impromptu participant workgroups discussing issues of common interest across individual projects Informal video chats and gatherings so that participants get to know each other The Institute will begin on Thursday, May 31 with a Welcome and Introductions session, and will conclude on Tuesday June 15 in the afternoon. The intervening weekend days are for participants to work on their projects on their own with very limited support from NDACAN, and full support from NDACAN staff will resume on Monday. During the SRI, participants have dedicated access to the NDACAN Research Analysts and Project Directors. They are available to advise, instruct, and support participants in whatever way they need so that they make substantial progress on their projects. In addition to NDACAN staff, participants may also seek help from any statistical consultants or dataset content experts invited by NDACAN to support the event. As part of a group of supportive colleagues, SRI participants can also benefit and learn from other participants who are using the same dataset, studying related research questions, or applying similar statistical methods. Selection of Participants NDACAN encourages applications from advanced graduate students, post-docs, early-career faculty, and other researchers. Applicants are rated based on the quality of the proposal, research background, and intention to publish. In addition, an attempt will be made to identify sets of proposals that complement each other either through use of the same dataset, interest in a similar content area, or application of similar statistical techniques. Proposals based on the following datasets are especially encouraged: AFCARS, NYTD, LONGSCAN, NCANDS Child File, NIS, NSCAW Restricted Release, and Datasets #100, #110, #112, #117, #126, #134, #135, #159, #161, #162, #202, #203. We will give strong preference to applicants who already have the data before applying. Obtaining Restricted data (e.g. NSCAW Restricted, NCANDS Child File, datasets #205, #191) requires action from your own IRB (an approval or exemption) which could take months. Therefore, SRI Applicants proposing to use Restricted data should at least initiate their IRB approval process before submitting their SRI application. Special consideration will be given to applicants who propose to merge AFCARS and NYTD data. Application Instructions Download the official SRI 2018 Application (PDF) from the application page and fill it out electronically. Type or paste your responses directly into the spaces provided, then save it. E-mail your completed SRI 2018 Application (PDF) and a recent CV as attachments to NDACAN@cornell.edu. Please title your attachments beginning with your last name (Example: Jones-App.pdf, Jones-CV.doc). Only your application PDF and your CV will be processed: please do not submit additional documents. Application Deadline Applications and CVs must be received on or before March 15, 2018. SRI Information on the NDACAN Website Apply to the 2018 Summer Research Institute (SRI) Summer Research Institute 2018 Announcement and Information Summer Research Institute General information Contact Us Please direct questions about the Institute to Andres Arroyo (E-mail: NDACAN@cornell.edu, Phone: 607-255-7799). Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status on or before April 1, 2018.
New project to identify risk factors for sexual exploitation of children
Feb 1, 2018Sex trafficking is one of the world’s most prevalent and profitable criminal enterprises, with over 100,000 annual cases involving children under the age of 18 in the U.S. each year. However, the number of these cases are vastly under reported, especially in rural areas. A new project being undertaken by faculty members at Penn State aims to examine the incident rates and risk factors for commercial sexual exploitation of children in Pennsylvania. According to project researcher Sheridan Miyamoto, assistant professor in the College of Nursing, the one-year project will provide evidence on the extent of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in the state and differences in risk factors among rural and urban victims. “There is very little research available on CSEC nationally, and even less available in rural areas, primarily because many victims are still incorrectly prosecuted for prostitution and there is no tracking system in place to help us understand how large the problem is.” Previously, Miyamoto, who is also a co-funded faculty member of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, received seed funding from the Social Science Research Institute to assemble an interdisciplinary research team. The team, including Sarah Font, assistant professor of sociology and fellow co-funded faculty member; and Casey Pinto, assistant professor of public health sciences in the Penn State College of Medicine, identified risk factors for CSEC, including child maltreatment, homelessness and criminal justice involvement. According to Pinto, these risk factors may differ depending on geography. “In both rural and urban settings, victims may be forced or coerced into outdoor solicitation. In urban situations, solicitations are more likely to occur on a particular street corner, while in rural areas solicitations often occur in rest areas or truck stops on major highways.” The research will provide the first-ever, multi-county understanding of CSEC incidence, type and factors that place youth at risk for CSEC in the state. The researchers will analyze case management data from PA Children and Youth Services from several counties. The data includes all information entered by caseworkers on what occurred or was learned over the course of an investigation through Child Protective Services. “All cases with allegations identified as sexual exploitation or sexual abuse reported in 2015-2017 will be screened in the selected counties to identify cases that meet accepted definitions of CSEC,” Font explained. “We will be looking at children at the greatest risk, as previous studies have shown approximately 95 percent of trafficked kids have a history in the child welfare system. With this data, for the first time, we will be able to figure out how many children are at risk for sex trafficking and develop prevention efforts.” The researchers will also compare rural and urban CSEC rates, as well as identify differences in risk factors based on rural or urban residents so that prevention efforts can be targeted. “The project is an ignition point for policy change and interventions to prevent kids from falling victim to trafficking. The end result will be a project report to help translate the science to policies and early prevention efforts,” said Miyamoto. The project is being funded through a Center for Rural Pennsylvania grant. Seed funding was also provided by SSRI.
Youth Who Help Reformers Must Be Treated As Partners, Not Tokens
Jan 11, 2018By Marie N. Williams for Juvenile Justice Information Exchange Policymakers, practitioners and advocates seeking to improve the juvenile justice system have increasingly acted on calls from youth and their families to make “no decisions about us, without us.” These well-intentioned efforts have led to the proliferation of youth leadership councils, advisory boards and youth speakers’ bureaus — recognizing that some of the most effective emerging advocates and reform leaders are young people whose personal narratives can serve as a powerful catalyst for change. Young people’s contributions to the public dialogue about systems reform are invaluable, adding a human element to often-clinical conversations about how best to serve youth and communities that are divorced from reality. Their lives and stories put into stark relief the consequences of our systems’ failures, and can move practitioners and policymakers to action much more effectively than the most compelling position papers or briefs. Those are the benefits of youth partnership and engagement for the systems. But seldom do we think and talk about — and far more seldom do we address — the costs and consequences for the youth we engage and partner with. Plucking them temporarily out of challenging life circumstances, sometimes chaotic homes and communities, we invite them to conference rooms and podiums, and give them a microphone and an opportunity that may seem too good to pass up — to have adults listen with rapt attention. What happens after that, all too often, is the resumption of inattention. Not to the collective needs of the young people with system involvement, but to the individual needs of those we have anointed as spokespeople. Ethical youth partnership and engagement requires advocates and reform leaders to be clear and intentional about their goals, and to communicate those goals to the young people with whom they wish to partner. It also requires that we set realistic expectations about the limits of the relationship. And finally, in some circumstances, it demands that we exceed those expectations by being mindful of first attending to the immediate, most urgent needs of our youth partners. Distinguish between engagement and partnership Engaging youth can actually be quite easy. It may mean simply asking their opinions, inviting them to participate in focus groups (with or without recompense), or giving them an opportunity to review and give feedback on the work product of adults. Youth engagement can be one-off or sustained over time, but sustained engagement is just that. It does not transform into partnership, just by virtue of having been prolonged. Partnership is a much more rigorous standard and requires that we give young people the opportunity to weigh in not only on content, but on process as well. It means investing in the capacity building that will enable them to become true partners in problem solving, systems reform or policy development. And it often necessitates a longer timeline before we can expect to see results. Before we can call the relationship with young people a true partnership, we must build trust that their input will carry equivalent weight and receive equal consideration to that of their adult counterparts. Manage expectations, avoid tokenism At worst, many young people with lived experience are identified by practitioners and providers as especially “articulate,” “personable,” “smart,” or in other ways “atypical” of system-involved youth. They may then be thrust into circumstances where they are celebrated for the accomplishment of having simply survived a broken system. Once they have recited the litany of their often turbulent lives, very little is asked or expected of them other than to illustrate the need for change. When youth are full partners with advocates, they are treated as experts in their own right. Having seen and felt the systems from the inside, they are given the time, space and the tools they need to develop meaning and context around their personal experiences. More importantly, they are given the choice about when, where and how to share those experiences as part of a reform movement, policy initiative or other systems-change endeavor. Finally, they are informed about the limits of the impact they should expect to have with their participation, and have complete autonomy to decide whether to participate at all. Do no harm One of the often-repeated descriptors of system-involved youth, and youth who have experienced homelessness, for example, is their virtual invisibility. Their histories often include a long list of “warning signs” and “red flags” that adults charged with caring for them missed or ignored. Youth who are engaged in reform initiatives may, for perhaps the first time, be the recipients of praise and positive reinforcement. That attention comes with an unspoken quid pro quo: As long as they are the exception to the rule, they will be celebrated. They must stand as an example of either extraordinary resilience in spite of the system, or the success of a new approach to fix the system. In either case, these young people have little room for error if they want to continue to receive positive recognition, or any recognition, since failure once again relegates them to the masses of children who “did not make it.” When engaging and partnering with young people, our overarching goal should be to do no harm. This will mean, at a minimum, accommodating their life circumstances. Ideally, adult partners should also intervene and connect them to services, even when it is clear that in doing so, we may be giving exceptional support to one young person. After all, we are responsible for putting them in exceptional circumstances. A sound youth partnership and engagement model recognizes and accommodates what we, in child-serving systems are fond of saying: Kids are different. Their gains can be incremental, and setbacks may even be frequent. This is no less true of youth who manage to connect with advocates and policymakers, and who speak eloquently and movingly on demand about the need for reform. Their “lived experiences” are, in most cases, still being lived. The only ethical path to meaningfully engage and partner with them is to do everything within our power to ensure that those experiences become a thing of the past. Marie N. Williams, J.D., is senior program officer at the Stoneleigh Foundation. Before that she was immediate past executive director of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice and a longtime advocate for social justice causes.
Center for Healthy Children Open House
Nov 21, 2017The Center for Healthy Children recently help an open house for attendees to learn more about the new NICHD-funded P50 Project 1 Child Health Study and the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network. To view media coverage of the event, go to WPSU and WJAC/WATM.