Category: News

Zero Abuse Project would like to congratulate Dr. Pearl Berman on the release of her new textbook entitled “Violence Across the Lifespan.” Dr. Pearl Berman is a Full Professor, the Chair of the Psychology Department at Indiana University of PA (IUP), and the President of the National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence (NPEIV). She has also been a member of

This textbook provides research-based advice about common childhood and adolescent problems that are addressed at a clinician/doctor visit, such as: media use and screen time, educational issues and finding the right school, tantrums and behavior problems, sleep problems, potty training, overweight/obesity, discipline and punishment, typical and atypical sexual behaviors, bullying, and working with parents. It has a great chapter on sexual behaviors that helps professionals and parents understand why and when to be concerned about abuse, as well as chapters on physical punishment, identifying and reporting abuse and neglect (based on her CAST curriculum), and positive parenting, among many other topics.

A recently published peer reviewed study on Zero Abuse Project’s CAST initiative found that CAST students were performing as well as current DSS workers in the field and, in more complex cases, the CAST students were performing better. We are grateful for Dr. Jennifer Parker and her team at USC Upstate for their leadership in conducting and publishing this study.

On Wednesday, Clinton-Saunders, a senior family studies major at the Mississippi University for Women, could be cast as an investigator.

The role-playing Clinton-Saunders does in the Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) program is one of things she likes best about the studies preparing her for her first job as a professional.

The University of Illinois CAST program features a simulation lab exemplifying the critical importance of simulation training for child protection professionals. Zero Abuse Project has been instrumental in implementing 74 CAST programs across the country, many of which have similar simulation laboratories.

The Child Protection Training Academy at the University of Illinois Springfield held a Project FORECAST training event designed to demonstrate best practices for frontline professionals when responding to a maltreatment scenario in a hospital setting.

This sort of educational experience helps CAST students and frontline child protection professionals better realize the dynamics of child maltreatment casework in a simulated environment so that they can be better prepared for responding to similar cases in the real world.