Amid the Storm Clouds Doctor Takes Issues to Capitol Hill
New York, NY. – Dr. Mary Jane Bovo, a leading Board Certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist in Manhattan, and author of the new book, A Child Betrayed, added to the climate by storming Capitol Hill recently to discuss the extremely slow progress of changes to Child Abuse Reform with lawmakers. A veteran child abuse/domestic violence reform advocate for more than 20 years, she despaired of the extremely slow progress of change and decided the best way to get attention was to go directly to the lawmakers. During the two-day marathon of her meetings, she found that the Legislators did not know many important facts. Even with the animosity and divisions currently running through Congress, Democrats and Republicans both agree that changes need to be made for child abuse reform.
Key problems brought to light during the trip were:
- 4 children die each day that is one child every 6 hours, as a result of child abuse. But this number is much higher because 10 states do not list injuries or death as a result of child abuse as part of the cause of death in their state statistics. Dr. Bovo insisted that a uniform national cause of children’s death should be implemented so that we are able to track the real numbers of deaths from child abuse.
- 50 out of 50 states failed the federally mandated Child and Family Services Review. Yet only two states have made the necessary changes to their procedures while the other 48 states simply plowed on with business as usual. Dr Bovo demanded to know why the 48 non-compliant states were still receiving Federal aid regardless of their performance, even though their time limit for changes had expired.
- Caseworkers who do not do their jobs are exempt from prosecution. The Result of this laxity, fraud conduct, and many times forgery of reports is the death or harm of the children. The children are the ones that pay for the fraudulent conduct. She suggested making the state CPS accountable for their employees’ actions and not shield them from prosecution any longer.
“Unless we start thinking outside the box, nothing will be done. Money promotes change in two ways: by giving it and by taking it away. Changes are motivated when it is earmarked for specific programs and changes are motivated when it is taken away until the required changes are made,” said Dr. Bovo. She suggested that to get the situation changed expeditiously, Joint Congressional Hearings be held on this subject. This will finally give the children a voice by having victims; survivors; families that tried to help and couldn’t, testify so that we know the real situation. Make the Federally mandated Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) Program Improvement Plan (PIP) really mean something. She also suggested that the House and Senate jointly sponsor bills, instead of doing it separately. Bills separately being considered include appropriations for specialized training to improve criminal investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases; and inclusion of parental sexual abusers in the sexual predators laws, both items which the doctor expressed concern to Representatives Ted Poe, Carolyn Maloney, Scott Garrett, Rush Holt, Frank Wolf, Gil Gutknecht and Senators Hilary Clinton, Patty Murray, Johnny Isakson, Christopher Dodd, Jeff Bingaman, Mike Enzi, Lamar Alexander, Orrin Hatch, Charles Schumer.
Dr. Mary Jane Bovo, M.D., F.A.C.O.G. is an accomplished physician, author, speaker, and court consultant specializing in women’s issues. Dr. Bovo received her medical degree from Pennsylvania State University and served as a chief resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania during the mid-eighties. She is currently living and working in Manhattan, New York. For more information on the doctor, please visit www.mjbovo.com. Dr. Bovo is the author of A Child Betrayed