Iowa City Foreign Relations Council: International Systems Building on Child Protection

Published: Dec. 1, 2015, 10 a.m.

This presentation will summarize the collaboration between the U of I Child Protection Program leadership and numerous universities in Turkey, multiple ministries including the Ministries of Health, Justice, Education, Interior, and Social Services, and non-governmental organizations. The positive outcomes in systems building for child protection in Turkey have been expanded to other countries including Portugal, Greece, Pakistan, and Colombia. All these efforts have been supported by the U of I International Programs that led to the second Provost's Global Forum focusing on global child protection issues.

Resmiye Oral, MD is a professor of pediatrics who is a board-certified expert in child abuse pediatrics. She has completed her child abuse pediatrics fellowship at Ohio State University and is currently working as the director of the Child Protection Program at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa. She has published numerous articles in Child Abuse and Neglect. She became involved with child abuse and neglect in 1993 and established the first multidisciplinary child abuse and neglect follow-up team in Turkey, her country of origin. She wrote a book and three book chapters on child abuse for Turkish physicians. She also co-authored two training kits published by Ohio State University on physical and sexual abuse. Her interests are international systems building to address child abuse and neglect, drug-endangered children, shaken baby syndrome, and early intervention with child abuse to prevent severe and usually irreversible consequences of abuse including fatality. In order to do that, she believes that recognition of subtle findings of abuse is of utmost importance, which calls for training of all professionals involved with child abuse. She gives 50-60 lectures a year to medical and non-medical professional audiences on child abuse and neglect to regional, national and international audiences.

For more information on the Foreign Relations Council visit their website.