(Provided by the Application): The purpose of this conference is to bring together a multidisciplinary group of 35-40 influential professionals who treat, manage and advocate for children who have been maltreated to discuss the results of this recently completed study, entitled Child Abuse Recognition Experience Study (CARES), and other studies that have examined health care provider decision making regarding possible child abuse on September 14-15, 2006 at the AAP Headquarters in Elk Grove Village, IL. These studies describe barriers to health care provider identification and reporting of suspected child abuse. The proposed conference will begin to address some of these critical barriers through the following three goals: 1. Understand current roles and relationships between healthcare professionals, investigative agencies, and the legal system; 2. Develop strategies to enhance physicians' capabilities and confidence in reporting suspected child abuse and neglect, including improving interactions with investigative agencies and the legal system; 3. Enhance working relationships among multidisciplinary participants who will work towards implementation of the strategies developed during this conference including dissemination of the results of the conference to a broad group of interested professionals from a variety of related disciplines. In an effort to reach these goals, the conference will feature presentations by nationally recognized experts representing health care and child welfare to set the foundation for a series of small group discussions designed to elicit draft recommendations. These discussions will build upon one another, and the recommendations will be modified through an iterative process, culminating in a consensus-building discussion. The conference will yield a consensus summary for an action plan to improve identification, reporting, and management of suspected child maltreatment. The results of the conference will be submitted for publication in a pediatric journal e.g., Pediatrics and in a journal read by the various disciplines who care for maltreated children, e.g., Child Maltreatment.
