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Citation
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Vieth V, Cross TP, Peters R, Johnson R, Counsil T, Farrell R, Goulet B, Steckler Tye K. J. Child Sex. Abus. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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David Chadwick was "an international pioneer in identifying, treating and preventing child abuse and a recognized expert in the field who started at movement"Footnote2 which included a call to end child abuse. Led by Dr. Chadwick, San Diego's Children's Hospital and Health Center - San Diego (CHHC) created the National Call to Action: A Movement to End Child Abuse and Neglect (NCTA).Footnote3 This initiative organized a coalition of more than 30 national organizations, and 3,000 child abuse professionals, community leaders, and survivors of child abuse with the goal of significantly reducing child abuse in the United States. This would be accomplished, in part, by identifying political champions, the use of science to evaluate practice and policy, and the reallocation of resources to proven prevention initiatives.Footnote4
Dr. Chadwick and the NCTA boldly asserted we could end child abuse within a century but to do so would:
[R]equire keepers of a plan who will devote many decades of their lives to the effort. The keepers will keep the message alive. It will take sweat and tears. These keepers must recruit successors with similar dedication. Who, among you, are the keepers? Who will be willing to step forward and work tirelessly to keep the message alive?Footnote5
Others agreed with Chadwick's lofty vision. For instance, Anne Cohn Donnelly saw the potential of Chadwick's call to action but warned it would mean a commitment exceeding a lifetime. According to Donnelly, ending child abuse will require "adopting a far longer view than we have historically held, such as planning out our efforts over decades, not years, and likewise measuring our success over decades, not years. This new approach will require flexibility and a great deal of patience. But in my own view, it is possible."Footnote6 When Donnelly writes it is "possible" to end child abuse she concedes this may not literally be achievable "but rather that we do have it within us to bring about very significant reductions in child maltreatment over the long haul."Footnote7
Using Dr. Chadwick's "National Call to Action" as a foundation, Victor Vieth (hereinafter identified as the first author) wrote a scholarly paper called "Unto the Third Generation: A Call to End Child Abuse in the United States within 120 Years." The article drew on nearly 20 (now 37) years of experience collaborating with a wide range of professionals dedicated to fighting child maltreatment, including social workers, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, pediatricians, nurses, mental health professionals, clergy, and others. The article was originally written in 2005Footnote8 and a revised and expanded version was published a year later.Footnote9 The National Child Protection Training Center mailed the revised article to thousands of child protection professionals throughout the United StatesFootnote10 and the first author presented the plan in keynote addresses at national and state conferences over a period of several years...
Language: en |