The Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Foundation for Education, Public Health and Social Justice Awards $500,000 Grant to Help Fight Child Abuse
Jun 2006
Minneapolis (June 2006) – The Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Foundation for Education, Public Health and Social Justice is pleased to announce a $500,000 grant for the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI) to support its efforts to educate, inform, and train child protection professionals and advance the elimination of child abuse.
“Child abuse in the United States can be significantly reduced, if not eliminated, over the course of three generations, and we have a bold yet practical plan to accomplish that. It requires a multi-pronged approach to teach and provide skills to professionals who deal with all aspects of child abuse. We are so thankful that this generous grant will enable us to continue making real changes to the ways our professionals can help our children, now and in future generations,” said Victor I. Vieth, Director of APRI's Child Abuse Programs at the National Child Protection Training Center (NCPTC) at Winona State University. APRI, a non-profit affiliate of the National District Attorneys Association, provides research, training and technical assistance to the NCPTC.
“APRI, and the National Child Protection Training Center at WSU, have begun to make enormous strides to change the way we think about protecting children from abuse, and how our children can be better served by our social system. Their plan reaches professionals on all levels across the country, and serves a tremendous purpose with focus and determination. We are honored to help facilitate their programs through this grant,” said Michael V. Ciresi, the firm’s chairman. APRI intends the Foundation’s funding to provide support for three areas:
1. National conferences, by hosting these three events:
- Childprotect, a 5-day trial advocacy course for child protection attorneys. The attorneys attending the course will try a mock termination of parental rights case and be critiqued on their work. The course will be held at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul the week of July 10-14, 2006.
- When Child Abuse Hits Home, a course designed for child protection professionals striving to excel or to maintain excellence in their response to an allegation of child abuse, which will be held in Missoula, Montana the week of September 11-14, 2006.
- Finding Words, a national course for developing state programs, will be held at Winona State University, November 13-17, 2006.
2. Publications: APRI will also continue to publish a number of works that advance the child protection profession. In addition to the newsletter, Reasonable Efforts, APRI produces a number of scholarly works that are widely cited.
3. Model curriculum: APRI plans to expand a model curriculum it designed with Winona State University, currently in use, to better prepare future nurses, psychologists, law enforcement officers, social workers and others to work with child abuse victims. APRI will develop the curriculum into a minor and then begin disseminating it around the country. The goal is to have the curriculum in place in 100 universities by 2013 and 500 universities by 2018.
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