COLUMBUS, Ohio (Press Release)–The Center for Child Welfare Policy of the North American Resource Center for Child Welfare (NARCCW) has announced the 2010 winners of the Pro Humanitate Literary Awards, North America’s premier literary awards for the field of child welfare.
One book award and three article awards are conferred annually to authors from the United States and Canada whose articles best “exemplify the intellectual integrity and moral courage required to transcend political and social barriers to champion best practice in the field of child welfare.” Awards are selected by a peer jury that reviews and rates all submissions. The 2010 awards will be presented on January 28, 2010 at the 24th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment, by Dr. Ronald C. Hughes, NARCCW’s Director. http://www.chadwickcenter.org/conference.htm
For the 2010 awards, there were four articles that met the criteria of the Herbert A. Raskin Child Welfare Article Award. Dr. Neustein and Attorney Lesher’s article entitled, A single-case of Rabbinic sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish Community. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 17(3/4), 270-289, was one of this year’s winners. Dr. Neustein and Mr. Lesher will receive a Pro Humanitate Medal and will share the $1,000 prize.
Amy Neustein, Ph.D., is a sociologist, researcher, lecturer, and author of many scholarly articles on child sexual abuse, sociology of religion, and speech technology. She is co-author of From Madness to Mutiny, and is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Speech Technology. Dr. Neustein is a member of the editorial Board of the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. Dr. Neustein also edited Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities and Child Sex Scandals, a collection of essays on child sexual abuse, published by Brandeis University Press in the Sarna Series on American Jewish History, Culture, and Life (May 2009).
Michael Lesher, Esq., MA, is an author, columnist, investigative reporter, lawyer and legal editor who has published in the peer reviewed literature (and in the popular press) on the many facets of child sex abuse and institutional cover ups. His assiduous and meticulous scrutiny of religious institutions and governmental entities that cower to them is complemented by his trenchant analyses of religious communities that co-enable abusers. Mr. Lesher serves as a child advocate. He has appeared on ABC Nightline and ABC Eyewitness News. He has been quoted prominently in the New York Times, Associated Press, New York Newsday, New York Jewish Week and Forward. As a legal advocate for equal protection of the rights of victims, Lesher has argued these issues before the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He has recently submitted a certiorari petition to the United States Supreme Court seeking review by the high court of the question of whether victims of incestuous sexual assault deserve the same treatment from prosecutors as victims of rape by strangers.
The North American Resource Center for Child Welfare (NARCCW) is an independent, nonprofit, privately endowed organization. Its mission is to develop and disseminate public policy that promotes “best practice” in the field of child welfare. NARCCW was conceived and embodied as an umbrella organization for a tetrad of child welfare agencies: The Institute for Human Services (IHS); the Training Resource, Advocacy, and Information Network (TRAINet); the Center for Child Welfare Policy; and the Family Trust Clinic. These agencies provide a comprehensive array of child welfare services that promote protection and permanence for physically abused, neglected, and sexually abused children. NARCCW and its affiliates are located in Columbus, Ohio.
NARCCW relies on the expertise of both academicians and direct service practitioners to formulate sound and effective recommendations for policy and practice development. NARCCW’s activities include annual symposia to examine child welfare practice dilemmas and controversies, such as risk assessment, transracial adoptions and sexual abuse interventions. Policy recommendations are disseminated through white papers, internet websites, educational and training conferences, and a journal.
Dr. Ronald C. Hughes is the Director of NARCCW and the Center for Child Welfare Policy. For more information about NARCCW and the Pro Humanitate Awards, visit their website at www.narccw.com.
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Preceding provided by the Center for Child Welfare Policy