Last month, I attended a mandatory reporter training offered by the Children’s Law Center and Greenville Health System Children’s Hospital Children’s Advocacy Department. The Children’s Law Center is a resource center for South Carolina professionals involved in child maltreatment or juvenile justice court proceedings and child advocates working to improve the safety and well-being of children. The mission of the Center is to improve outcomes for children by enhancing the knowledge and skills of professionals and promoting informed, sound public policy. The Children’s Advocacy Program at Greenville Hospital System was created to promote the total health of children through its responsibilities for injury and obesity prevention, healthy child development, public policy, and community outreach programs. The program I attended was one of two information packed sessions and there was an excellent luncheon panel as well. Candice Lively from the Children’s Law Center presented an extremely informative program about the legal obligations of professionals who are mandatory reporters of child abuse and afterwards there was a Q&A with the director of Greenville DSS, Keith Frazier, and a team from the Greenville County Sheriff’s Department who work directly with child protection services. Michelle Greco and her group from Greenville Hospital System did a great job of organizing this event. We have a lot to be proud of in our community for the professionals who are working to keep kids safe.
The Children’s Law Center will do this same presentation about mandatory reporting…..and they have a number of other programs as well…..for FREE in your community! This is a great resource for both professionals and lay persons. You can find out more at http://childlaw.sc.edu/ The website is packed with online information that is easy to access and very informative.
