Winona State Training Center Uses Mock Crack Houses Courtrooms and Interview Rooms to Teach, by Jean Hopfensperger, Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 6, 2010

Winona State Training Center Uses Mock Crack Houses, Courtrooms and Interview Rooms to Teach.

By Jean Hopfensperger
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
March 6, 2010

http://www.startribune.com/local/86727442.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUycaEacyU

WINONA (MN) -- Janice sat in the living room of her filthy apartment, answering questions from a social worker about her new boyfriend. Her daughter, abused by Janice's ex-boyfriend, had just told a classmate that she was "scared to go home."

Such abuse investigations play out daily in Minnesota communities. But this one unfolded inside a unique training center. "Janice" was an actress, living in a fully furnished pretend apartment. Her interview was conducted by a social worker student and simultaneously broadcast to a classroom of peers learning to interview families in child protection cases.

Students watched as their classmates acted out the child protection interview. Winona State is the first school to implement the center’s undergraduate minor in child advocacy studies.
Photo by Renee Jones Schneider

At the National Child Protection Training Center, the battle against child abuse is acquiring new and powerful weapons. Its state-of-the-art training center is unlike any in the nation. It launched the nation's first undergraduate minor in child advocacy studies at Winona State University and has a federal grant to expand to 100 colleges over four years.

The center also trains 10,000 police officers, attorneys, social workers and other professionals each year on investigating and prosecuting child abuse. Last month, the organization became the new home of the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center.

"Two decades of research shows us that social workers, law enforcement, psychologists ... are woefully underprepared for child abuse cases they will encounter in the real world," said Victor Vieth, executive director of the center on the Winona State campus.

More than 25,000 children were evaluated for child abuse in Minnesota in 2008, the last year information is available. The goal is to reverse the trends that perpetuate abuse, Vieth said.

"First, many children suspected of being abused are not reported into the system," he said. "Second, even when reports are made, most children never have their cases investigated. Third, even if the report is investigated, the investigators and other front-line responders often are inadequately trained to do the job."