Welcome!
This website provides an overview of child abuse and children with disabilities with a focus on Interviewing Strategies along with access to various types of Resources. Its goal is the provision of information for working more effectively with child abuse cases that may involve children with special needs and their families. It outlines basic knowledge that should be known by all members of the multidisciplinary team related to child characteristics, strategies or “reasonable accommodations” that may be needed in investigative and/or support procedures.
Development
This resource was designed in 2004 by experts in New York State who had been involved in the training of diverse professionals involved in the child abuse field on topics related to disabilities from multiple perspectives. The intent is to provide a starting point for learning more about this critical topic across disability areas. The content of those years of training was captured in a website format and as a “virtual desk” allowing the user to open files, references, videotapes, websites and print useful documents. The success of that initial product prompted the funding and transfer of it to this web-based environment which allows full access to the materials with a free LOGON. Video clips are captioned and work is underway to provide Disability Contact information within individual States.
How to Access
The majority of the website is available by clicking on any of the sections on the Main Page. However, because of the nature of copyright and permission received for all of the organizations or individuals featured in the Video Section, access to Articles and Video clips are locked and require a free LOGON and registration which takes just a few minutes to complete. Once you are registered, you will have access any time you need to use this site.
More Information
You can find out more information about what is included on this website by viewing the short Introduction. Content continues to expand or be update in some of the sections as new information or critical articles become available in the field. This website is only as useful as it is current and fully accessible to all.
Work is also underway to expand the Disability Contacts to initially all States If you are interested in having your State Disability Contacts listed or would like to recommend additional resources or articles, contact Christine E. Pawelski, Ed.D. cep24@columbia.edu.
©2005, 2007 New York State Office of Children and Family Services. All rights reserved. This website was produced by Teachers College, Columbia University. Its development was made possible by a grant from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services to the New York State Child Advocacy Resource and Consultation Center, a program of Safe Horizon Inc. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views or policies of the funding agency.