Transcript of Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities Hearing: December 7-8 , 2015 Page: 2
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Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities
December 7-8, 2015
It's also a fact that the President and Congress have appointed the 11 of us to try and stop it
from happening. If they had wanted our opinions, they could have asked 2 years ago and
could have met individually with us and asked us to share our ideas, told us to get into a room
together and hash it out and bring forward a proposal. If they wanted only an ideological or
partisan perspective, they could have asked any number of pundits their opinion. If they had
wanted a research view, there are plenty of university professors prepared to summarize the
literature and present the evidence base.
The President and Congress were clear, they appointed a diverse group because they wanted
a number of perspectives. They gave us 2 years because our investigation was to be
comprehensive. This isn't so much about what we brought to the table 2 years ago, but the
opportunity for us to hear what's happened across the country, what the latest research is,
and what policies seem to be effective and which aren't.
If one or more of us knew the answers when we started, we should have or could have been
applying it in the public, private, or not-for-profit sector. We were given 2 years to learn
everything we could, then collectively, through the filters that each of us bring, come up with
the best set of recommendations possible to first and foremost develop a national strategy to
eliminate child abuse and neglect fatalities.
So our work today is to have that conversation and it will require compromise. Nobody is
going to get everything they believe should be in this, but everyone's expertise should be
reflected in it. It must be bipartisan in order for divided Executive and Legislative Branches to
take action and for all 50 states to be compelled to act.
But first and foremost, we have to make recommendations that will reduce or eliminate
fatalities. That should be the filter that everything that we discuss today is seen through: Will
it reduce or eliminate child abuse and neglect fatalities?
So for the conversation, we will start with Chapter 1. We have the Introduction in Chapter 1,
and then we have the set of recommendations that we're hoping to cover.
Chapter 1 is what really frames the remainder of the report, and if we get Chapter 1 right,
then the remainder of the report is much easier to discuss, and we have not yet had the full
Commission discussion about the content of Chapter 1. The idea there is urgency, and I think
that's been a conversation we have had as a full Commission, and Chapter 1 now attempts to
reflect the kind of urgency that I believe all of us feel is necessary. We are obligated to
address that urgency.
At the same time, we have abundant evidence that our current approach cannot achieve the
goal of zero fatalities, so Chapter 1 also includes the long- term vision that we've talked
about and tries to capture the three components of that vision and lays out what the
remainder of the report will look like. So Chapter 1 is attempting to balance the urgency,
what can we do now, and the long-term vision.
And I would just close by saying that the emphasis has been on a limited set of immediate
strategies that can impact children and families tomorrow. The 6 to 12 children that will die
before noon tomorrow, what could we do to address that? And that's what Chapter 1 is
attempting to do with the five different specific strategies.2
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CQ Transcriptions. Transcript of Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities Hearing: December 7-8 , 2015, text, 2015-12-07/2015-12-08; United States. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1438898/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.