Ohio Health Policy Review

HPIO, partners release family violence profiles of all 88 Ohio counties

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio and its partners in the Ohio Family Violence Prevention Project, under the leadership of Kenneth Steinman of The Ohio State University College of Public Health, have released profiles of family violence in all 88 counties in Ohio.

Links to all 88 profiles can be found at: http://www.hpio.net/OFVPP_CountyProfiles.html

To coincide with the release, HPIO is hosting five regional forums throughout the state. Each forum will present data on child abuse/neglect, intimate partner violence and elder abuse/neglect and provide training to those interested in using the information to build support for prevention. The events are scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.  on April 9 in West Chester, April 12 in Columbus, April 16 in Nelsonville, April 19 in Toledo and April 23 in Akron (the forum are free, but registration is required; see www.hpio.net for more details about the forums and specific locations).

“Family violence is a compelling issue because it is common, consequential, and yet preventable,” said Steinman, noting that the most striking findings from the county profiles are that family violence is much more common than many believe, it has a tremendous negative impact on families affected by it and there are proven prevention methods that can be adopted at the local level.

HPIO to host regional forums on family violence prevention

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio invites you to attend one of five free, half-day regional forums to discuss county-level findings on family violence in Ohio. The forums, titled "Using Family Violence Data to Build Support for Prevention in Ohio," will present data on child abuse/neglect, intimate partner violence and elder abuse/neglect and provide training to those interested in using the information to build support for prevention.

At the end of this forum, participants will be able to:

• describe at least four sources of family violence data in Ohio;
• demonstrate the ability to access online sources of family violence data in Ohio;
• prepare an accurate, compelling graph that conveys at least one of the following themes: (1) family violence in your county is as common as other widely recognized threats to health and well-being, (2) many cases in your county never come to the attention of authorities, (3)both prevention and intervention are key to curtailing family violence. 

All sessions will be held from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Cincinnati (West Chester)/Butler County - April 9, 2010
Columbus (Grove City)/Franklin County - April 12, 2010
Nelsonville/Athens County - April 16, 2010
Toledo (Maumee)/Lucas County - April 19, 2010
Akron/Summit County - April 23, 2010

To register, visit this page

Ohio House, Senate OK teen dating violence prevention bill

After being approved 32-0 in the Ohio Senate, a bill requiring schools to incorporate dating violence prevention into their health curriculum appears poised to be signed into law by Gov. Ted Strickland (Source: “Ohio Senate approves dating-violence prevention bill,” Youngstown Vindicator, Dec. 16, 2009).

House Bill 19, which was previously approved in the House and was sponsored by Rep. Sandra Stabile Harwood, D-Niles, was named the Tina Croucher Act in memory of an 18-year-old from southwestern Ohio who was killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1992.

The law would require schools to teach children in grades seven through 12 about teen dating violence prevention, including information on recognizing signs of dating violence and characteristics of healthy relationships.

The promotion of school-based prevention measures is one of the major recommendations in the Ohio Family Violence Prevention Project’s White Paper on Family Violence (pdf, 36 pages), which was published in 2008. The Project is a collaborative effort between the Health Policy Institute of Ohio and The Ohio State University School of Public Health, through support from the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio.

Strickland calls for reforming state’s domestic violence laws

In response to a Columbus Dispatch investigation into domestic violence in Ohio, Gov. Ted Strickland announced that he favors a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening Ohio laws aimed a punishing domestic abusers (Source: “Strickland vows to punish domestic abusers,” Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 20, 2009).

This week the Dispatch published a series of articles after a four-month investigation into domestic violence in Ohio.

Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, and Democratic House Speaker Armond Budish of Beachwood both announced that they, too, would support measures aimed at reducing domestic violence.

Through support from the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio, the Health Policy Institute of Ohio has continued work on its Family Violence Prevention Initiative — noting that it is an issue with significant implications for the health of individuals and families. HPIO is undertaking a second phase of research and analysis of family violence prevention, building on the work started with its 2007 white paper Improving Family Violence Prevention. In early 2010 HPIO will be releasing profiles of family violence in all 88 Ohio counties and will be sharing its findings at a series of regional forums.

Family violence summit to be held in Newark

Those interested in preventing family violence in Ohio will have the opportunity to hear from nationally recognized experts on the subject, and receive training from those responsible for Ohio-based prevention programs, at a two-day summit scheduled for Oct. 27 and 28 in Newark.

Titled Prevention in Progress, the event “is unique in that it will provide a collective forum for stakeholders in child abuse, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse to join together to address preventing perpetration before it may occur,” according to the Web site for the summit. “The Summit will incorporate technology, interactive teaching, and will incorporate local data to engage and empower Ohio communities and social service organizations for greater impact.”
Among the speakers at the event is Kenneth Steinman, PhD, who authored the Health Policy Institute of Ohio’s White Paper on Family Violence Prevention and related publications.

The Summit will be held at the Cherry Valley Lodge in Newark. Further details and registration information is available at the Prevention in Progress Web site.

Akron Children's Hospital gets $800k in stimulus funds to treat abuse victims

Akron Children’s Hospital has been given $882,550 in federal stimulus funds to expand services that evaluate children who are victims of sexual, physical or emotional abuse (Source: “Akron Children's Hospital to expand services for young abuse victims using federal stimulus money,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 3, 2009).

The hospital’s Children at Risk Evaluation Center currently evaluates children who are referred by private doctors, law enforcement and other agencies, but will now be able to offer longer-term treatment.

"Children who are victims of abuse carry the psychological and sociological trauma throughout their lives," Dr. Daryl Steiner, director of CARE, said in a prepared statement. "Early intervention minimizes the long-term effects of the child's victimization."

The hospital was one of 14 organizations to be given the two-year stimulus grant through the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ohio House passes teen violence bill

A bill allowing juvenile court judges to issue protection order in cases of teen violence was unanimously approved Wednesday by the Ohio House (Source: “Bill to reduce teen violence gets OK,” Toledo Blade, June 25, 2009).

Current state law allows only judges in adult court to issue orders of protection.

"Research shows that over 50 percent of teens report knowing someone involved in a violent relationship, and more and more evidence points to adult domestic-violence victims having a history of violent relationships starting when they were teens," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Edna Brown (D., Toledo), said.

The bill permits someone to seek a protection order in juvenile court against a person under the age of 18 who has committed assault, menacing, stalking, aggravated trespass, and a sexually oriented offense.

The measure now goes to the Senate, where it didn't advance last year despite getting similar overwhelming support in the House. Brown said a few changes have been made to satisfy critics in the Senate, including the addition of language making it easier to have the records of a protection order expunged when the subject reaches the age of 18.

Columbus group to host national family violence conference

The Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence has announced that it will be hosting its first national conference on family violence (Source: “National domestic-violence conference set,” Columbus Dispatch, March 17, 2009).

The event, titled “Innovation through Collaboration: Building a Community Response to Family Violence,” is scheduled to run from April 29 to May 1 at the Hilton Columbus at Easton. Organizers say they expect as many as 500 experts on family violence to attend the event. The focus of the conference will be presenting information on five areas of the community in which victims of violence might reach out for help: business, faith, health care, legal services and victim services.

To register or obtain more information, call 614-273-1400 or go to www.ccafv.org/conference.