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Activities <br />It is the responsibility of the Child Protection Team to review individual cases of child <br />maltreatment with social workers and make suggestions and recommendations. <br />Approximately sixteen cases are reviewed annually in this way. <br /> <br />In the case of the death of a child in which there has been DSS family involvement within <br />the past year, a full length Child Fatality Review is conducted, facilitated by staff from <br />the NC Division of Social Services. This review will take several days and be followed <br />by a written report and community meeting to review the causes of the fatality and to <br />consider ways in which children can be better protected. A Cabarrus team has conducted <br />two of these reviews in the last several years. <br /> <br />Public Education and Awareness <br />The team is also responsible for education and public awareness efforts to alert the <br />community to the problem of child maltreatment. The team advocates for children's <br />needs in the area of child protection and for action to address those needs. <br /> <br />Recent activities have included ongoing parent education activities for safe infant sleep; <br />care of infants, toddlers and two's; discipline and behavior management skills. Nurturing <br />Parent classes have been taught to classes of young parents and parents referred from <br />Social Services because of poor parenting skills. <br /> <br />Smart Start funding has enabled the Health Alliance to carry out an intensive home <br />visiting program for young teenage parents; young parents with low education and low <br />income are at risk for neglect of children. <br /> <br />The Role of the County Commissioners <br />We urge you to continue to provide needed support to Social Services to carry out their <br />difficult work assignments. Maintaining a reasonable case load is essential, as children <br />are placed at risk when social workers have cases that are much larger than the state's <br />recommended average. <br /> <br />We urge you also to support all community efforts to address the problem of substance <br />abuse, a huge contributor to child neglect. Substance abuse is a community issue, more <br />than any one agency or.o. rganization can solve. <br /> <br />Thank you! <br /> <br />Anne Laukaitis <br />Chair, Cabarrus Community Child Protection team <br />Executive Director, Cabarrus County Partnership for Children <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br /> <br />