NUBE 2024

Working in the emergency department, often means psychiatrist will hear about trauma. In the child psychiatry world, this trauma is often abuse. As a mandated reporter, a psychiatrist is obligated to report abuse. This task can often feel daunting. It can feel daunting due to lack of understanding about the child welfare system. In addition, there is often guilt about what the child protective services (CPS) will do to the child. Hence often psychiatrists will skirt around having these difficult conversations with the child and family.
 
This session will highlighting several child protective cases. During the case presentations, it will to utilize three separate areas interviewing skills, review of common roadblocks with using child protective services, and how to use multidisciplinary teams when working with a traumatized child and to overcome the challenges when working with CPS.
 
Although each case will have elements of all three practical skill. Case one is about a child whom is not talking but there is a high suspicion of abuse. Case two involves a case where CPS is already involved but you still have concerns about their welfare and are concerned about the child going back to abuser and you are unable to contact their case worker. Case 3 involves a child that is abandoned in the emergency department. All three of these cases involve a wide variety of problem solving to help child and the emergency department/hospital needs.
 
Pooja Amin will provide a brief overview of the child welfare system. Pooja Amin and Dr Meghan Schott, will provide an overview of the cases. Finally, Dr Schott, a child and adolescent psychiatrist will share her experiences of serving on DC’s citizen review panel, a federally required entity for each state to review child protective services.

Learning Objectives:

Equip participants with effective interviewing techniques and communication strategies to help children feel safe and comfortable discussing their experiences with ongoing abuse.

Enable participants to identify common roadblocks in working with Child Protective Services (CPS) and develop strategies to effectively navigate these challenges.

Explore the roles of various professionals (e.g., social workers, psychologists, legal representatives) in managing and supporting child abuse cases within the emergency psychiatry setting.