Building Strong Children Together: Ending Child Maltreatment in Our Lifetime Through Disruption of Educational Systems a

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Building Strong Children Together: Ending Child Maltreatment in Our Lifetime Through Disruption of Educational Systems and Approaches Tricia Gardner 1 Jerry Dunn 2

& Susan

Schmidt 1 & Beverly Funderburk 1 & Erin Taylor 1 &

Accepted: 8 July 2020/ # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Abstract Our current educational system places the onus on individual professions to create large-scale change within the field of child maltreatment. Historically, each profession has expended significant time and resources to personally create and traverse their own pathway in addressing the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. The siloed structure of our current educational system inherently limits our collective vision and impact toward a safer future for children. Our greatest collective failing has been the failure to effectively shift the focus across professional disciplines from postmaltreatment intervention to that of primary prevention. Our vision for breaking down educational silos begins at the undergraduate level, continues throughout the graduate and post-graduate progression, and culminates in professional leadership training and mentorship. We are convinced that this multi-tiered educational approach will create the necessary foundation to support a collaborative approach to the design, dissemination, and implementation of a new era of within- and cross-systems best practices in child abuse prevention. Our paper will focus on the creation of the EndCAN Academy to serve as the unifying leader in this vision. Keywords Child abuse prevention . Child maltreatment . Multidisciplinary

A life-long Navy submariner recounted a turning point in his career. He was prepared to muster out at the end of his tour due to the toxic environment onboard the submarine to which he was assigned. At issue was a Captain whose authoritarian leadership style instilled in the crew feelings of inadequacy and fear in the crew. As a result, no crew members were fully invested in their duties, regardless of their place in the hierarchy.

* Tricia Gardner Tricia–[email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article

International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice

Mediocracy was “safe.” In this culture, the mistakes that naturally come in the context of personal growth and development could open a crew member up to discipline and possible military discharge. The Captain failed to impart a shared vision and commitment to the mission of the Navy and subsequently failed to lead his crew in accomplishing even their most basic responsibilities. During an annual inspection, their submarine was designated the worst vessel in the entire naval fleet. Fortunately for the submariner, a change in command occurred during the course of his tour. As the new Captain took the helm, everyone expected more of the same divisive leadership. Instead, this Captain laid out a different pathway for his crew. The new Captain envisioned each person’s contributions as critical to their shared miss