Teaching children to resist abuse, particularly sexual abuse, is a very popular child protection technique.  A recent scoping review of many popular programs, however, shows that few of them are in line with recent research in the child protection field. The most serious weakness that the study identified is that the key message of the…

A Texas nonprofit faces renewed investigation after its initial response to a crisis didn’t match its public records. Authorities in December 2020 charged the nonprofit’s chief financial officer, Gerald Monroe, with the sexual assault of his grandniece. The organization, Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services, said it terminated Monroe the day after the arrest. Monroe’s…

A panel of the Alabama Supreme Court recently held that a state foster care worker cannot dismiss a lawsuit stemming from fraudulent drug test results. The case is a good illustration of why mandated reporters and anyone in a youth-serving organization needs to be certain that they are covered by good insurance that will provide…

A recent investigative report raises the question of whether our mental health system prescribes to teenagers too many psychotropic medications that haven’t been tested for that age group or haven‘t been tested in combination. One reason is a cycle we have seen in other areas of medicine: a patient is prescribed one drug for a…

In a recent case lying at the intersection of parents’ rights, religious beliefs, foster care, and health care, the Georgia Supreme Court reviewed the principles for determining the sincerity of religious beliefs. The children in the case of In the Interest of C.C., were in the custody of the state Division of Family and Children…

Trigger warnings in classrooms are a beloved technique without a scientific basis. In fact, the studies that do exist indicate that trigger warnings in higher education do more harm than good.  A newly-published literature review surveyed the mental health studies that are available, noting that “despite emerging momentum for the adoption of trigger warnings in…

According to a study by psychologists and lawyers, up to 1/3 of forensic psychologists don’t use evidence-based protocols for their evaluations. Even more distressing is the finding that lawyers rarely challenge such untested procedures and courts even more rarely exclude the evidence. The researchers noted that their data “suggest that some of the weakest tools…

A nonprofit legal group‘s lawsuit highlights how mandated reporter laws can interact with overbroad abuse registry laws to actively harm children. I don’t know whether the facts of the case will bear out the complaint’s allegations that people are placed on the registry without notice or that the process of being removed from the registry…

A recent review and meta-analysis of mental health literature looked at the relationship between complex trauma and cognitive functioning in children.  The results shows a significant decrease in cognitive functioning among children who had suffered complex trauma, and that the decrease happens relatively quickly.  It’s not clear how this happens.  There are studies showing differences…