Since the signing of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Republic of the Philippines has strengthened its efforts in enforcing the rights of its children. Through varied initiatives - education, health, judicial, law enforcement, and social welfare - public awareness of child abuse and neglect has grown, resulting in an increase in the number of reported child abuse cases. These initiatives, while noteworthy, have also uncovered a larger problem - the lack of a comprehensive, national infrastructure for child protection. Equally critical is the shortage of the trained professionals necessary to make such a system work.
In response, the health profession has worked to increase the number of trained child protection specialists and multi-disciplinary child protection units (CPUs). The Department of Health established a system of nation-wide regional CPUs, currently totaling thirty-nine. The National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippines National Police also opened centers for medico-legal evaluation. These CPUs, their child protection specialists, and other hospital-based child protection practitioners largely operate in isolation from each other, with few established relationships among them - each facing the challenges of child abuse and neglect single-handedly, everyday.
The case for an organization dedicated to the support and advancement of child protection units and child protection specialists is compelling:
Need for a unified professional voice
As the number of child protection specialists and CPUs continues to grow, so does the need for formal networking to maximize learning and advance unified standards of clinical excellence. It is only by achieving distinction that child protection specialists earn due recognition of the value of their work. This recognition further reinforces that child safety is a basic health need, and child protection a required health care service.
Need for the latest medical research
As with other clinical areas, child protection is the focus of fast-changing research. Methods of evaluation and treatment from a decade ago are not only outdated, they are now considered harmful to the patient. Child protection specialists and CPU staff must continually hone their skills in order to evaluate and treat patients effectively and, most importantly, in a manner that is not re-traumatizing.
Need for a body of acknowledged medical experts for the Court
With the increase in reported child maltreatment cases, the number of trials for perpetrators of child abuse grows as well. For many of these trials, it is the forensic interview with the child and the findings of the physician that may determine the case outcome. Given the importance placed upon the physician's findings and testimony as well as the difficulty involved in interpreting this evidence, it becomes all the more important to establish a body of acknowledged medical experts that the Court may rely upon.
Need for the medical component to contribute collectively to the larger system
Physicians and CPUs are merely one component of the larger continuum of care for the treatment of child abuse and neglect. Child protection practitioners must network and establish relationships with professionals of other disciplines in order to close the gaps between medical, psycho-social, investigative and legal services for patients. By working in partnership with professionals of these other disciplines, child protection specialists and CPUs will truly become part of a national infrastructure for child protection.
As we continue to grow together, our goal of a child protection system that integrates child protection into basic health care and truly protects the rights of all children will be within our reach.
Our Mission
To enable child protection specialists and child protection units to achieve excellence in serving abused children and children-at-risk
Our Greater Vision
A body of child protection practitioners and child protection units committed to the highest clinical standards of care for abused children, contributing effectively to a comprehensive national child protection infrastructure that will close the gaps between medical, psycho-social, investigative and legal services.
Objectives
• Encourage a high level of expertise in the field of child protection through continuing medical education and training opportunities.
• Establish a reliable and knowledgeable pool of expert medical witnesses through the dissemination of the most current issues in medico-legal evaluation.
• Ensure interdisciplinary information exchange through networking opportunities with both medical and non-medical child protection professionals.
• Harness individual observation into collective study though the facilitation of multi- institution child protection research.
• Improve the quality of current child abuse evaluation through routine peer review.
• Turn experience into tangible lessons through roundtable discussions and case study compendia.
Expertise Exchange
1. Two-Way Visiting Professor Program
2. Roundtable Discussions
3. Annual Conference
Resources
4. Child Protection Library
5. Teaching Slides and Case Study Compendium
6. Child Protection Management Information System (CPMIS)
7. Training Curricula
8. Publications
9. Periodic Medical Alerts
Support
10. 24-Hour Case Consultation
11. Peer Review
12. Safety Net Program
| Physical
Address: |
Mezzanine, Tropicana Apartment Hotel, 1630 Luis Ma. Guerero Street, Malate, Manila |
Mailing Address: same
Hours Open: 8:30am to 6pm
Internet URL: www.childprotection.org.ph
E-mail: info@cpu-net.org.ph
Fax: 404-3955
Phone: 404-3954
Contact Persons
Mayet Baez
Operations Manager
Dr.
Merle Tan
Associate Director for Research
Dr.
Irene Baluyut
Associate Director for Research
Dr.
Stella Manalo
Associate Director for Training
Bernadette
J. Madrid, M.D.
Executive Director
Dr.
Amelia Fernandez
Board Secretary & Treasurer