COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDREDTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION DIVISION HEARING HELD IN NEW YORK, NY, APRIL 3, 1987 Serial No. 100-29 Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor 72-815 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1987 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS, California, Chairman WILLIAM D. FORD, Michigan MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina SUBCOMMITTEE ON SELECT EDUCATION MAJOR R. OWENS, New York, Chairman PAT WILLIAMS, Montana STEVE BARTLETT, Texas JAMES F. JEFFORDS, Vermont (Ex Officio) (II) Hearing held in New York, NY, on April 3, 1987. Fontana, Dr. Vincent, medical director and pediatrician in chief on child abuse and neglect for New York City; Cesar Perales, commissioner of social services for New York State; Joanne Johnson-Hershman, assist- ant director of social workers, St. Luke's Hospital; Denis Walcott, direc- tor of Harlem Dowling Children Service Program, Prevention and Treatment of Abused Children; Dr. Andrea Savage, assistant professor of child abuse training for child abuse social workers, Hunter College.... Orr, Sally, director of public policy, Association of Junior Leagues; Jill Shore, president of the board of directors, Northern Westchester Shel- ter, Inc., for Domestic Violence, accompanied by Pamela Johnston, executive director of Northern Westchester Shelter, Inc.......... Owens, Hon. Major R., chairman, the Subcommittee on Select Education Schachter, Bob, executive director of National Association of Social Work- ers; Norma Rollins, executive director, Advocates for Children Prepared statements, letters, supplemental materials, et cetera: Savage, Andrea, M.S.W., Ph.D., prepared statement of....... Walcott, Dennis M., executive director, Harlem-Dowling Children's Serv- 24 (III) REAUTHORIZATION OF THE CHILD ABUSE APRIL 3, 1987 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SELECT EDUCATION, Washington, DC. The_Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1:30 p.m., at New York Founding Hospital, 68th Street and Third Avenue, New York, New York. Members present: Representative Major Owens (presiding); Representative Biaggi. Mr. OWENS. Will you all be seated, please. The hearing is about to commence. Let me begin by welcoming you to this hearing of the Subcommittee on Select Education of the House Committee on Education and Labor. It is the first hearing of this Subcommittee to be held in this one hundredth Congress. I am grateful to have with me my colleague, the Honorable Mario Biaggi, who has a long career of fighting for assistance in the area of child abuse, and I certainly want to thank the witnesses for appearing today on fairly short notice. You have been able to reply; we certainly appreciate that because there is a timetable to meet with respect to this legislation which has driven us a bit hastily in the convening of our hearings, after going through a transition process of committee leadership. Today I would like to welcome you and hope that you will respond to our request that has already been sent out to ask for more detailed response with respect to your ideas concerning the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, and the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act. STATEMENT OF HON. MAJOR R. OWENS, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SELECT EDUCATION OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR Mr. OWENS. Our children are, for the first time in our history, experiencing massive rates of drug addiction, including alcoholism, suicide, and more recently enormous rates of child abuse. Children who are abused and victimized experience a terrorism as cruel as destructive assaults anywhere in the world. Children who are victimized are treated in such a manner partially because they have no power. They have no formal recourse and more often they have no allies to whom they can express their feelings, for (1) |