Category: News

Zero Abuse Project is pleased to see the number of strong proposals contained in the U.S. National Blueprint to End Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents. We are particularly excited to see the strong recommendations to improve undergraduate and graduate training of future child protection professionals–a reform we have taken the lead on through our Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) initiative.

Zero Abuse Project is pleased to announce that the statewide evaluation of CAST programming in Mississippi has concluded and the results are available for review here. Highlights of the study show that: CAST learners possess better child abuse and neglect (CAN) knowledge and skills versus non-CAST learners. CAST certificate and minor programming shows the greatest improvement of key CAN competency

Shared with us from the University of Missouri-St. Louis As one of the few Child Advocacy Centers embedded within a university since 1997, Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis knew we wanted to align with the University of Missouri-St. Louis’s teaching mission in a meaningful way and leverage the expertise of working professionals in our center for UMSL students.

Researchers Ted Cross and Yu-Ling Chiu have analyzed the implementation of Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) in Mississippi and concluded the “CAST initiative has had considerable success and good prospects for enduring.” This is the 9th peer reviewed and published study on CAST. Read the study here.

The Academy on Violence and Abuse (AVA) is a worldwide organization dedicated to promoting health education and research as it pertains to the recognition, treatment, and prevention of the health effects of violence and abuse throughout the lifespan. As such, AVA has been a long supporter of Zero Abuse Project’s Child Advocacy Studies and Child Advocacy and Adult Studies (CAST,

A success story shared with us by Dr. Jamie Tester Morfoot, Assistant Professor of Social Work at UWEC.

The University of Illinois Springfield has partnered with Creative InformationTechnology, Inc. to beta-test app-based software to help modernize and improve childwelfare investigations. CAST students, under the guidance of Dr. Betsy Goulet, will be involved in the preliminary research surrounding these apps.

A success story shared with us by Dr. Jamie Tester Morfoot, Assistant Professor of Social Work at UWEC.

Providing Results: Mississippi CAST Initiative Eighteen months into a two-year evaluation project, the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi (CAC) is discovering valuable data to support their Children’s Advocacy Studies (CAST) Initiative. With the help of University of Illinois’s research team, the preliminary data has reinforced the significance of CAST courses at participating Mississippi colleges and universities. A two-year study was

In addition to providing simulation training in its CAST program, UIS provides additional simulation training to child protection professionals in the field through its Child Protection Training Academy. This publication serves as both a testament to what CAST can do and how it can grow into new venues to better those already working in child-serving career paths.

Zero Abuse Project, through the Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) program, is pleased to announce a collaboration with the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) and the New York Foundling.