October 04, 2019

Since its establishment by executive order in 2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has protected hundreds of thousands of undocumented persons who arrived in the United States as children from deportation. The oldest DACA recipients are now in their 30s, and many have children--in fact, over 250,000 of them. They are beloved of many. They are as American as any. But in September 2017, DACA was rescinded which would have had the effect of immediately terminating work authorization and putting individuals in jeopardy of removal. Plaintiffs filed suit in California and New York, and APSAC supported the DACA defenders in each case, beginning in March 2018 with our brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the University of California Regents. The cases ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court, where APSAC again supported the DACA defenders--this time leading a large group of 35 additional child advocacy and pediatric organizations and medical experts including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center on Law and Social Policy. 

In filing this brief, APSAC strongly opposes the needless termination of DACA, a critically important protection afforded to persons who arrived in the United States as children and have made lives and families here in the only home they know.

Read the brief here. The statements of additional amicus parties are contained in the Appendix, here.

September 23, 2019

APSAC is pleased to bring you our latest edition of the APSAC Alert! This edition, authored by Yen H. Nong, MPH and Lucy J. Puryear, MD, provides both a rationale for and information on best practices for screening for perinatal depression in pediatric primary care settings. 

September 09, 2019

Forty-five national organizations and 157 statewide groups have endorsed a letter to Congress deploring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s treatment of children trying to migrate with their parents into the U.S., calling it child abuse.

The letter, sent by The National Child Abuse Coalition and addressed to Senate and House Leadership said, “Many of the conditions faced by these children violate child abuse statutes all around the country.”

The letter cites “separation, detention, cages, deplorable physical and hygiene conditions, bullying and intimidation by guards” as practices that are “in direct conflict with what science tells us about healthy child development.”

The national organizations signing the letter include Child Welfare League of America, The American Psychological Association, The Children’s Defense Fund, Prevent Child Abuse America, The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. Many of these professional societies and organizations, who also belong to the National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse have also endorsed a statement calling for proper care of immigrant children in federal custody and offering their expertise and support to Congress.

​

“The frustration of professionals dedicated to promoting the health and welfare of children has never been higher,“ said Janet Rosenzweig, APSAC executive director. “To see so many principles of child welfare practice ignored is astonishing.”

“Science has shown the devastating impact that trauma can have on the developing brains of children,” said David Corwin, APSAC president. “I believe that most Americans do not condone our government causing permanent psychological injury to these children just as they do not condone child abuse by anyone in this country – it is totally unacceptable that our government is creating conditions that threaten the long-term mental health of these children.”

Despite the official end to the Administration’s zero tolerance policy, hundreds of children are still being separated and detained, the letter to Congress says. Warren Binford, an APSAC member and one of the legal experts who in June discovered hundreds of children being warehoused at the Clint Border Patrol Facility in Texas, warned, “We are at a crossroads in our nation’s history. Hundreds of interviews show that children are being routinely and systematically abused and neglected at the hands of our government. We cannot allow the mistreatment of children to be normalized or ignored. It is critical that every person in the U.S.
who cares about children speak out against these inhumane practices.”
 

In yet another effort to spur Congressional action and raise public awareness, on September 11 and 12, some of the nation’s top pediatric experts in medicine, psychology, law, and social work will conduct briefings for the House and Senate to support Congressional leadership in ending the systematic maltreatment of these children in U.S. custody.
 

August 16, 2019

APSAC has produced/is producing a number of publications on psychological maltreatment.  These include Practice Guidelines on the Investigation and Determination of Suspected Psychological Maltreatment of Children and Adolescents, the APSAC Monograph on Psychological Maltreatment (in process), and articles in the APSAC newsletter, the APSAC Advisor (in process).

​

APSAC has been advised that advocates for Parental Alienation Syndrome, Parental Alienation Disorder, and/or Parental Alienation have reportedly been using APSAC’s definitions of psychological maltreatment to assert that APSAC supports parental alienation as a type of psychological maltreatment.  A claim of parental alienation is too often made without careful evaluation of allegations of child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and other parental bad acts, especially in custody disputes (See APSAC Position Paper on Allegations of Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence in Divorce/Relationship Dissolution, 2016).

August 05, 2019

APSAC is excited to announce the call for abstracts for the 27th Colloquium to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, June 7-11, 2020. APSAC's 27th Colloquium will bring high-quality learning opportunities to child maltreatment researchers and practitioners across experience levels and professions. Sessions will be designated as beginning, intermediate, or advanced level content.

Priority will be given to presentations including an emphasis on promoting excellence in prevention, investigation and intervention for all fields working with child maltreatment.

​

Proposals due November 1. Submit yours today!

​

April 11, 2019

APSAC is pleased to bring you the latest issue of the APSAC Advisor. This issue, edited by Angelo Giardino, MD, PhD, and Christopher Greeley, MD, MS, contains articles on hot topics in child maltreatment and a special section on ending corporal punishment. Articles in this issue include:

• At Issue: Child Abuse Reporters and the Immunity Myth

• An Overview of Published Medical Research About Child Abuse and Neglect During 2006-2015

• True Evidence-Based Practices Deserve Wide Acceptance

• A National Initiative to End Corporal Punishment

• No Hit Zones: A Single Solution to Address the Most Prevalent Risk Factor in Child Abuse

• Working with Molly: A Culturally Sensitive Approach to Parents Using Corporal Punishment Because of Their Religious Beliefs

Plus our regular features, including the News from the Organization, an APSAC Research to Practice Brief, and a Washington Update focused on CAPTA reauthorization.

​

At the request of the Executive Committee of the National Initiative to End Corporal Punishment, APSAC is pleased to make this issue available to members and non-members alike. Click to read! 

APSAC believes that all professionals working with children and families involved in child maltreatment need access to accurate, current, high quality information that they can translate into usable solutions to solve their most critical policy and practice issues.

The APSAC Center for Child Policy will help professionals working in all child maltreatment-related fields to access, translate, and to implement the best available research into effective practice.

The Young American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (YAPSAC) is the division of APSAC designed to serve students and young professionals to ensure that the next generation of leaders in the field of child maltreatment have access to the multi-disciplinary information, resources, and network  that APSAC offers.