Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center Partners with Coastal Pediatrics Associates and MUSC Children’s Health to Expand Child Abuse Prevention Training

Press Release

The partnership will enhance Coastal Pediatrics’ comprehensive child abuse response process, which is vital for mandated reporters in South Carolina. Dee Norton is currently providing support and elevating the training of all staff and healthcare professionals while also implementing the training program into the routine onboarding of new employees and increasing awareness.

“We are excited to partner with Coastal Pediatrics and equip this essential group of mandatory reporters with continued resources they need to further prevent and identify child abuse,” said Dr. Carole Swiecicki, Executive Director of Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center. “We hope that the success we expect with this program will offer the opportunity to replicate it worldwide.”

Coastal Pediatrics and Dee Norton have joined forces to work together in increasing awareness of child abuse throughout the Lowcountry while ensuring the medical teams are up-to-date on an annual basis.

Dee Norton also partnered with MUSC Children’s Health Child Abuse Pediatrics for this program, with Dr. John Melville leading the initiative to train child abuse pediatrics’ medical providers in advance. In this form of medically-focused training, medical providers can concentrate on recognizing more subtle cases of child abuse.

“Recognizing abuse and neglect is an important aspect of providing quality healthcare to children,” said Dr. John Melville, Child Abuse Pediatrician of the Medical University of South Carolina. “Dee Norton is providing critical training for pediatricians in our community, and I am honored to be a part of this mission with MUSC Children’s Health as a partner.”

To learn more about Dee Norton Child Advocacy’s education training programs, visit www.deenortoncenter.org.