In this issue:

• The State of South Dakota Children’s Well-being: 2023 Report
• Recognizing & Reporting Child Maltreatment Course Available
• CIP October Registration
• SANE Courtroom Testimony: Instruction for SANEs, Prosecutors, and Advocates
• ACEs Training Opportunities
• CPCM Happenings

The State of South Dakota Children’s Well-being: 2023 Report

Earlier this week, with support from the South Dakota Department of Education, the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment (CPCM) at the University of South Dakota released The State of South Dakota’s Children’s Wellbeing: 2023 Report.

“To prevent child abuse and neglect and help children reach their full potential, it’s crucial to provide them with safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments,” said Darla Biel, Interim Director, Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment. “This first-of-its-kind comprehensive report is a tool for communities to collaborate across prevention efforts related to suicide, sexual violence, child maltreatment, and bullying to address violence happening now, and to prevent violence from happening in future generations.”

Children who witness violence or live in homes or communities where violence is prevalent are at a higher risk for experiencing violence or perpetrating violence against themselves or others. Families and other supportive adult relationships are crucial for youth. In fact, these influences on the lives of youth protect against violence. This report compares South Dakota to the nation, and where the data is available, differences seen across counties in South Dakota on these shared risk and protective factors. It contains over 100 indicators to measure shared risk and protective factors across all forms of violence, which are interconnected and often share the same root causes.

Tracey McMahon, first author of the report notes “Youth suicide and sexual violence rates are high in South Dakota. To maximize prevention resources, community partners, decision-makers, and caring adults can align efforts to focus on shared risk and protective factors of both sexual violence and suicide such as community connectedness, parent-child relationships, and community economic opportunity, which are measures found in the report.”

To view the report, visit SDCPCM.com/Data

Recognizing & Reporting Child Maltreatment

New Online Course Now Available

Online course allows progress at own pace and provides certificate of completion. Training covers community and professional responsibilities, impacts of ACEs on health and well-being, state child abuse/neglect and mandatory reporting statute, differences between civil and criminal cases, handling a disclosure, and value of multidisciplinary team response.

Review course content and complete free course registration at SDCPCM.com.

Court Improvement Program

Join us on October 25 for Understanding Psychosexual Assessments of Juvenile Offenders presented by Gary Hoffman, Counseling Café. Register now to attend and receive the session recording.

SANE Courtroom Testimony: Instruction for SANEs, Prosecutors, and Advocates

This training opportunity will provide SANEs an overview of the courtroom process and roles and strategies for effective testimony. Attorneys will gain insight into the role of SANEs and the information they can provide in the testimony process.

Through the course of three virtual sessions and the opportunity to participate in an in-person courtroom simulation, participants will: receive an overview of the criminal justice system of SD and SD sexual assault laws, prepare for trial and expert qualification, learn the elements of direct and cross examination, and participate in a mock trial experience.

The training is being made possible through a partnership of Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment and SD Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault.

Learn more on the SANE Learning Collaborative. Registration is required.

Adverse Childhood Experiences & Resiliency Learning Opportunities

Codington County-area residents are invited to a community training hosted by the Resilient Communities team and Codington Connects.

Tuesday, October 17
6:00pm to 9:00pm
Online Training

Learn more.

Higher education professionals are invited to a ACE Interface Train-the-Trainer event. This training is intended for active faculty and staff within South Dakota higher education institutions. Participants of this 6-hour training will be able to build upon their current knowledge of the original ACE study and how adverse experiences, as well as positive experiences, impact individuals across the lifespan.

Thursday, October 26
9:00am to 4:00pm
USD-Sioux Falls (4801 N Career Ave)

Saturday, November 4
8:30am to 3:00pm MDT
Black Hills State University
Jones Academic Building, Room 204
Registration required

Community Response to Child Abuse Conference Recap

More than 430 professionals in the child advocacy field attended the 23rd Annual Community Response to Child Abuse Conference, held October 5-6 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.

The conference provided professional training and educational opportunities for teachers, medical professionals, dentists, law enforcement, social workers, mental health providers, youth service providers, the legal community and community members and child advocates.

The Outstanding Service Award was presented to Tifanie Petro, who serves as the Director of Advocacy and Prevention for Children’s Home Society of South Dakota. She oversees the Children’s Home Child Advocacy Center in Rapid City, as well as the organization’s statewide Prevention, Training and Education program. At CAC, in addition to supervising collaborative investigations of child abuse cases, Tifanie provides forensic interviews for local, state, federal, and tribal jurisdictions and court room testimony. Through the Prevention program, Tifanie has partnered with CPCM and been instrumental in developing South Dakota’s implementation of ACEs training and the Enough Abuse program.

Thank you to conference co-hosts, SD Unified Judicial System, Child’s Voice at Sanford Health, and CPCM, as well as conference sponsors: Call to Freedom; SD Department of Social Services, Division of Child Protection Services; Mud Mile Communications; SD Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault; Avera Health; USD School of Health Sciences; Children’s Advocacy Centers of SD; USD Foundation; and Volunteers of America, Dakotas.

Click here for a full conference recap and event photos.

The On-Demand portal will be made available to in-person and on-demand registrants in early November. Registration is still available for the portal, which will host recorded conference sessions and corresponding continuing education certification.

CPCM Happenings

Congratulations to Tracey McMahon on her new role at Black Hills Special Services Cooperative and to Kristi Kranz on her new role with Sanford Health. We appreciate all the work they did while at CPCM.

USD Nursing students welcomed Teri Beeson, SANE Training Coordinator and Jen Canton, Avera Health SANE Supervisor into their classes last month to learn more about the work of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners.