EndCAN co-founders publish article making case for “do-over”

A new article published in the International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy, and Practice highlights the disruptive approach that the National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect (EndCAN) is taking to address the lack of progress in our country’s effort to fight child abuse. EndCAN co-founders Lori Poland,  MA, LPC,  and Richard Krugman, MD, wrote: “Can We Have a “Do-over”? Disrupting a Half-century Old Approach to Child Abuse and Neglect” to highlight the limited progress that has been made over the past 40 years to significantly reduce the rates of abuse and to highlight how EndCAN hopes to change a field that has seen little change in more than four decades. 

EndCAN aims to bring change by:  

• Creating a community of survivors who speak openly and without shame about their survival and ability to thrive. 
• Increasing research on child abuse and neglect.
• Raising awareness about the health, mental health and public health impacts of abuse.
• Helping victims, perpetrators, or even bystanders of abuse overcome the shame and stigma associated with abuse.

Authors Poland and Krugman state, “It is abundantly clear that the status quo is inadequate.” They then challenge others in the field to see if “whether we can begin to climb out of what feels to some who have been doing this for a long time, a 40-year rut. 

The article is a compilation of the national nonprofit organization’s work to stimulate innovation and discussion for the field. The goal is for readers to appreciate the effort and to begin to think “outside the box” in their own community or legal jurisdiction. 

 Wrap up Child Abuse Prevention Month and learn more about EndCAN by joining a national Live YouTube presentation on April 30, 2020. EndCAN’s Louder than Silence No Dinner Dinner will broadcast at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.  If interested, email jacquemontgomery@endcan.org to receive the link.   

EndCAN works to change the way child abuse and neglect is addressed by focusing on the health, mental health and public health issues of abuse. EndCAN helps survivors, thrives, and transcenders of abuse by uniting voices. The Foundation works with others to expand funding for research, training, prevention, and advocacy. Learn more at endcan.org.