Child Protection Conference Provides a Unique Training Opportunity in Japan

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW/AW) N. Ross Taylor, Navy Public Affairs Support Element West Det. Japan

YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- Yokosuka's Fleet and Family Support Center sponsored a three-day child maltreatment prevention conference presented by the Armed Forces Center for Child Protection (AFCCP) June 22-24.

The AFCCP, located at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., provides a variety of services throughout the Department of Defense (DoD) including medical evaluations, medical-legal review and child abuse education.

The focus of the AFCCP and the Yokosuka symposium is to help families return to healthy functional relationships, to protect children throughout the DoD from maltreatment and to ensure active-duty members are ready to serve.

"The objective of the Armed Forces Center for Child Protection is to provide objective child maltreatment expertise when and where it is needed throughout the DoD," said Dr. Barbara Craig, DoD senior child abuse pediatrician and AFCCP director.

Craig said that the multidisciplinary training covers all aspects of child maltreatment and by the end of the course; attendees will have been exposed to more than 30 different topics, including physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and child interviewing techniques.

"The conference is designed to provide training and education so that anyone involved with child abuse issues can learn how to better recognize, report, manage, investigate, prosecute or defend child abuse cases," Craig said. "The training includes the latest and most up to date information, advanced techniques and a lot of research-based information that most of the participants will not have had previously."

The diverse audience of more than 90 participants included both active duty and civilians from 12 different installations. Those in attendance included medical professionals, social workers, psychologists, criminal investigators, base police, chaplains and Department of Defense Dependents School (DoDDS) employees.

"We all have a responsibility, regardless of our profession to be able to help children who are victims of maltreatment," said participant Lt. Peter J. Arroyo Jr., doctor of occupational therapy and provider for Educational Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS) at U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka. "Those of us in health care, law enforcement, education and social work - we are the first line of defense, we are the ones who are seeing these children and we have to be able to identify them."

Craig said the training is fundamental for success and her teams are available and prepared to provide the training to medical personnel, family advocacy representatives, social work and mental health professionals, military commands, law enforcement, lawyers, judges, and the general public.

"We are the only child abuse consultants for the Department of Defense and we travel throughout the world seeing patients and providing training and education," Craig said. "Ultimately, the goal is to prevent children from getting injured, whether it is physically or emotionally."