Durham Police Program Receives National Recognition. The Durham Police Department is recognized in this month’s issue of The Police Chief Magazine, a publication of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The article, “Improving Law Enforcement Response and Mental Health Services for Child Trauma Victims in North Carolina” highlights the work of the North Carolina Response Initiative (NCCRI), a partnership between the Durham Police Department (DPD) and the Center for Child & Family Health (CCFH). Click here to read more.

Programs Targets Traumatized Kids, HeraldSun, March 27, 2009. Violence damages children. But a program involving police officers and mental health workers aims to help children who may be victimized by violence or exposed to it. "A lot of times, we run into families or people who say they don't think the kids were really affected by what's happened," said Kathryn Smith, a clinical social worker with the N.C. Child Response Initiative (NCCRI) and Center for Child and Family Health in Durham. "If they're not showing outward signs, sometimes they're the kids that we worry about even more, because if it's become so commonplace that they don't even notice or even turn their heads, that means that it's already ingrained and part of their lives.” Smith spoke on Thursday afternoon a luncheon at Shepherd's House Methodist Church sponsored by the Religious Coalition for Nonviolent Durham. The program, called the N.C. Child Response Initiative, involves having police officers send referrals to the CCFH offices located in downtown Durham anytime they are called to a scene where children have been involved in violence. .

New Programs Target Shaken-baby Syndrome, USATODAY, July 22, 2008. Pablo Cano-Lopez told detectives he was at "the breaking point" when he lifted his crying stepson, 4-month-old Elijah Llanos, and shook him four or five times. The baby stopped crying and whimpered before falling asleep. Six hours later, Elijah's lips had turned blue. He was rushed to a hospital, but by the next day, Feb. 19, 2006, he was pronounced dead... When a child is shaken, the head whips back and forth and the brain crashes against the skull. Typically, there are no outward signs of abuse, but the child may have bleeding in the brain or eyes. Shaken-baby syndrome kills 15% to 35% of all victims. Half the survivors often suffer severe brain damage, such as the 10-year-old girl named Winter who was shaken by her father when she was 9 weeks old.

Area Companies Compete for Charity in Battle of Bands; Herald-Sun Article May 25, 2008. Button-up rockers channeled the spirits of dead stars and '80s cop dramas Saturday at the Triangle Corporate Battle of the Bands for Child & Family Health fund raiser.

Stamping Out Child Abuse; Herald-Sun Editorial May 21, 2008. Of all the news a community could receive about its children, could any be more satisfying than learning cases of child abuse have declined 48 percent?

Effort to end abuse may be working. Study shows rate has dropped 48 percent in Durham County. Page 1. Page 2.

BieneSTAR Shines on Well-being of Immigrant Children; dukemedicine.org article May 2008. In Durham's large and growing Latino community, the littlest members often face some of the biggest problems.

ACCESS Program Rooted in Collaboration, Recognizes Link Between Health, Academics; dukemedicine.org article May 2008. When Duke Medicine and Durham Public Schools partnered in the mid-1900s to put a medical clinic in Southern High School, they recognized that student health and academic achivementwere firmly linked.

How to Tell When a Baby is Just Having a Good Cry; Herald-Sun article May 15, 2008. Based on over 25 years of research, The Period of Purple Cryinghelps parents learn both how to soothe their crying infant and to recognize that infants in the first few months of life may cry for extended periods of time.

UNC, Duke get $7M to prevent shaking babies. Triangle Business Journal - January 15, 2008. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University have received $7 million for a project meant to prevent babies from being shaken, the schools said Tuesday. The joint program is meant to reach the parents of every child born in North Carolina in an effort to teach them about the dangers of shaking children.

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