AG 2000 06 19 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Since February 1998, members of the Community Child Protection Team have also taken an active part in the Cabarrus Partnership for Children, the county's Smart Start organization. Members of the CCPT who are serving on the Parmership Board of Directors include DSS Director Jim Cook, Dr. David Lockhart, Arc Director Terri Bobbitt. Anne Lankaitis, Executive Director of the Partnership for Children, has als0 served as chair of the CCPT since 1996. Smart Start projects that are child protective in nature include an intensive home visiting program, support for the Children's Advocacy Center, a Child Care Health Consultant to provide health and safety education and services to child care centers and the Cabarrus Cares for Kids Health and Safety Fair. Participation at CCPT meetings has been consistently good, with about 15 to 20 persons present at each meeting. Meeting agendas include topics of interest and concern, presented for team information and/or discussion, and announcements of interest or relevance. The team has occasionally had guest speakers on important topics. On occasion, the team has lent its support to problems that would benefit from multi-county support, notably the advocacy efforts by the Catawba County CCPT to pass statutory rape legislation. CCPT meeting agendas always include reviews of cases presented by social workers and their supervisors. Community needs and gaps in services are identified through the discussions that follow the presentations. Action steps have been planned and carried out. Minutes are always prepared and distributed to participants before the next meeting. Records of all CCPT meetings since 1991 have been retained. Jim Cook, DSS Director, served as the original chair of the CCPT, followed in 1994 by CPS Supervisor Connie Polk. Since 1996, Anne Lankaitis, formerly a supervisor with the Division of Child Development and currently the Executive Director of the county's Smart Start, has served as chair. The team has reported regularly to the Board of County Commissioners, as required. Copies of the last four reports are included as attachments. In January 1997, members of the CCPT responded to the Governor's Survey on Child Abuse and Neglect. This committee identified two major barrier/problems that are major barriers to the prevention of child abuse and neglect: 1. Lack of knowledge of children's development and parenting/caregiving skills on the part of parent and caregivers. The committee stated that there is a great need for appropriate, affordable, readily available parent and caregiver education, especially in regards to child development, age-appropriate expectations, and parenting/caregiving skills. 2. Funding is inadequate or nonexistent for programs in social services, day care, public schools, mental health and public health to prevent child abuse and neglect. Other barriers mentioned but not prioritized as the top two included the existence of substance abuse among parents investigated for alleged abuse/neglect; poverty; lack of affordable, suitable housing; exploitation of children by the media and children's early exposure to inappropriate material; society's lack of valuing of children, as indicated by measure of childhood poverty; perpetuation of abuse/neglect within families, with a succession of children within the same family being victimized. The team received one of three awards at the Child Protection Team Conference in 1995 for collaborative effort to establish a Children's sexual abuse protocol. The team received one of five awards at the Kaleidoscope of Caring Conference in October 1996 for collaborative efforts to identify increased resources for the growing Hispanic population in the county.