by Bailey White
Staff Writer
St. Vincent’s will host members of the 4th Judicial Circuit’s Guardian ad Litem program and other child protection agencies today at a mini-conference on child abuse investigation and child protection.
The conference is designed to provide workers and volunteers at 19 different agencies with the skills needed to identify child abuse and also to give them information about how and where to report suspected abuse.
“We’ll have professionals join us, not only from the Guardian ad Litem programs in six area counties, but also from the Department of Children and Families, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, daniel, Inc. and Duval and Clay county schools, among others,” said Mary Beth Rilderman, GAL’s Clay County coordinator.
The conference was the brainchild of GAL volunteer Pat Harkness and is being put on as a joint effort by GAL, the First Coast Child Advocates, the Child Protection Team (CPT) and St. Vincent’s.
Those attending the conference will go to three different training sessions.
Bonnie Deckerhoff will discuss services CPT offers to children and family members and the best way for GALs and others to respond when children voluntarily disclose accounts of sexual abuse. Jodi Yaver, a nurse practioner, will discuss the process of medical examinations and forensic evidence gathering, and Bruce McIntosh, CPT’s medical director and a pediatrician at St. Vincent’s Family Medical Center, will present information about identifying different types of child abuse, including Shaken Baby Syndrome.
“That’s especially important because Shaken Baby Syndrome seems to be occurring much more frequently in the community and children are affected for their lifetime by injuries that they sustain as a result,” said Rilderman. “This year a child in the GAL program died from Shaken Baby Syndrome, so this course is particularly in his memory.”
The conference will fulfill the six hours of on-going training volunteer GALs are required to earn annually.