Meet Melissa Merrick Of Prevent Child Abuse America - The Latest U.S. Foreign Trafficking Tiny Humans Operation To Re-Animate The Re-Engineered Residuals Of The Peculiar Institution
Despite the acknowledgement of a few horrors in the child welfare system, Melissa Merrick is prepared to take on her new roll to oversea the expansion of Public Private Partnerships to Prevent Child Abuse (a registered trademark), operating in Illinois, to a non-qualified foreign corporation, in Nevada.
Dr. Merrick has over 18 years of experience conducting social science research, particularly related to the health and psychosocial effects of child maltreatment and early adversity. She currently serves as a Behavioral Scientist in the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. In this role, Dr. Merrick provides scientific and subject matter expertise, leadership, and technical assistance to internal and external partners and develops strategies and programs to prevent violence and injury. Her work has led to many exciting opportunities to expand child abuse and neglect prevention efforts to include structural determinants of health and health equity. Overall, Dr. Merrick creatively and effectively communicates and disseminates the importance of preventing early adversity and the intersection among violence, victimization, and health topics to key national, state, and local health agencies, stakeholders, congressional audiences and policymakers, and community members with diverse priorities, backgrounds, and knowledge.
Does Melissa speak upon poverty?
Nope.
Does Melissa talk about due process?
Of course, not.
Does Melissa open dialogue on the procurement and purveying of tiny humans?
This would definitely command a non-sequitar from Melissa.
Does Melissa discuss why there is a need to expand child abuse operations in the U.S.?
Yes, she does because there is a blue pinwheel.
Melissa is preparing for the re-launch of the residuals of the peculiar institution I keep telling the world about.
Today, my first day at Prevent Child Abuse America, marks the beginning of a new chapter in my professional life—one that’s accompanied by great excitement, as well as deliberate reflection and anticipation. As the nation’s oldest nonprofit committed to the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect, PCA America enjoys a rich history and is widely recognized for its passionate, dedicated staff and a diverse and influential network of collaborators and partners nationwide. Indeed, I have had the good fortune to visit and witness firsthand the extraordinary work happening at many PCA state chapters and Healthy Families America sites. I look forward to continuing to explore how, together, we can create and sustain the conditions for strong, thriving families and communities and ensure all children grow up in safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments.
Is this a daunting task? Yes. Children continue to be separated from their parents at alarming rates in the child welfare system and at our borders, corporal punishment is still allowed in public schools in more than a dozen states, and newspaper headlines persistently remind us of the startling prevalence of child sexual abuse in youth serving organizations, houses of worship, and in homes.
Is it an insurmountable task? Absolutely not! The good news is we already possess many of the tools and strategies needed to effectively prevent child abuse and neglect from occurring in the first place—and we continue to build the evidence base for innovative and novel solutions every day. Collaboratively, we can meaningfully impact the lives of children, families, and entire communities through comprehensive approaches, including:
Expanding home visiting to the millions of families who could benefit from it;
Building political will for efforts that strengthen household financial security, thereby reducing parental stress and depression; and
Shifting norms from blaming parents to supporting them and equipping them with techniques that engender positive relationships.
Of course this will require cultivating and nurturing cross-sector partnerships with businesses, philanthropies, the media, and others. It will require integrating the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect into other efforts to address important health issues of the day, such as opioid overdose and suicide. And it will require a public health approach to prevention—one in which we don’t only call for trauma-informed services and responses, but also trauma-informed systems and contexts. In so doing, we can assure brighter futures for our children and their children, too.
Thank you for the hard and important work you do each day, which both amazes and humbles me. Mostly, though, your efforts inspire me to relentlessly pursue stronger collaborations and partnerships so that even more children can grow up to be healthy, happy, and prosperous for generations to come.
I’m ready, PCA America is ready…let’s get to work!
No comments:
Post a Comment