16 May 2022 Best Practices for Not Leaving Kids on Your Bus By Debbie Ausburn Hot weather is coming, and with it we will hear more stories about kids left behind on busses and vans. It’s always a frightening event,...
14 May 2022 How Foster Parents Can Lower the Risk of Unfounded Allegations By Debbie Ausburn One unfortunate part of being a foster parent is protecting yourself against false or unfair allegations. When you sign up for foster...
11 May 2022 Good Child Protection Policies Don't Require Two Adults At All Times By Debbie Ausburn Many people think that all youth-serving organizations must follow a rule requiring two adults in any activity involving children. It is...
09 May 2022 Michigan Limits Its Child Abuse Registry By Debbie Ausburn The Michigan legislature enacted a common-sense bill that goes against recent trends by taking people off the state’s child abuse...
07 May 2022 High School Hazing Didn’t Require Mandated Report By Debbie Ausburn An Arkansas prosecutor made a controversial decision not to charge school officials with failure to make a mandated report of a hazing...
04 May 2022 Five Ways to Help Foster Families By Debbie Ausburn This is National Foster Care Month, and Tuesday was National Foster Care Day. Not everyone has the resources to become a foster parent,...
30 Apr 2022 When and How to Cooperate with Law Enforcement By Debbie Ausburn It’s not unusual for youth organizations to hear from law enforcement investigating crimes against children who are in our care....
27 Apr 2022 Youth Organizations Need to Affirmatively Support Their Mandated Reporters By Debbie Ausburn An interesting study from Israel illustrates one of the core flaws that I have found in mandated reporting laws, which is that the...
25 Apr 2022 Foster Parents Vindicated By Debbie Ausburn A Massachusetts judge has dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against two foster parents, Matthew Tucker and Cassandra...
23 Apr 2022 More Evidence that Positive Childhood Experiences Buffer Trauma By Debbie Ausburn An interesting study recently looked at the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and positive childhood experiences (PCEs)....
20 Apr 2022 Emerging Standards for Child Protection Policies By Debbie Ausburn Developing a child protection policy can be a difficult process, in part because there is little evidence which policies actually work....
10 Apr 2022 Obtaining "Confidential" Child Abuse Records (Part 2) By Tom Rawlings As I mentioned in part 1 of this brief series, attorneys, service providers, and journalists often need access to DFCS and other child...
09 Apr 2022 Rising Student Anxiety May Be Fueled by Rising Adult Expectations By Debbie Ausburn The CDC last week released a study showing that teen depression and suicidal thoughts have risen by more than 40% in the last ten years....
06 Apr 2022 Why Treating Therapists Are Not Good Forensic Experts By Debbie Ausburn I often find myself in a case opposing a party who has designated his or her or a child's treating therapist as an expert witness on...
04 Apr 2022 Maltreated Boys Fare Worse than Girls By Debbie Ausburn A study from Australia indicates that boys who suffer from abuse are less resilient than girls. The researchers started with a sample of...
02 Apr 2022 Positive Childhood Experiences May Protect Against Pandemic Stress By Debbie Ausburn A study during the depths of the pandemic offers some evidence that positive childhood experiences may help mitigate stresses from the...