Joining with the United Way of Greater Rochester, Monroe County has launched a major new initiative called "Do Right By Kids," designed to encourage community responsibility for the safety of young children and to decrease the number of children devastated by severe child abuse and neglect.

Do Right By Kids will be developed in three phases through 2003. County Executive Jack Doyle and United Way President Joseph Calabrese recently unveiled a campaign targeted at reducing the incidence of Shaken Baby Syndrome - one of the leading types of "inflicted injuries" among infants.

The three components of "Do Right By Kids" are:
•Shaken Baby Syndrome
•Mandated Reporters Training, an interactive new-media approach to training of teachers, day care workers, police and others required by law to report child abuse scheduled for release early in 2002
•Positive Parenting, a campaign to raise parenting skills, model effecting parenting behaviors and emphasize the value of children to the community.

All three phases of the Child Abuse Prevention Program are based on research, commissioned by the county and the United Way, by the University of Rochester, Department of Community and Preventive Medicine.

The Mandated Reporters segment is under development and encompasses improving the currently existing reporter training. Through the research, the county found a dire need to improve the relationship between Child Protective Services unit of the Department of Social Services and mandated reporters. CPS investigates reports of child abuse.

Monroe County has more than 30,000 mandated reporters, defined as professionals required by New York State Social Services Law to report incidences of suspected child abuse. Examples of mandated reporters are: teachers, day care workers, law enforcement, medical providers, mental health providers and some community agency personnel.

The research also identified a key concern among mandated reporters who call Child Protective Services when they detect abuse - they rarely know the outcome of the report. A new curriculum will provide a better feedback loop between Child Protective Services and mandated reporters to the extent possible by law.

The final component of the "Do Right By Kids" campaign is Positive Parenting and is due to launch sometime in the second year of the campaign. This component entails the difficult aspects of disciplining children in a positive manner. The target audience is any adult who provides primary care for children: parents, single parents, foster parents and guardians, neighborhood friends, day care providers and more.