Lieutenant Governor Burbank Launches April Child Abuse Prevention Month, Moves Forward with Implementation of Maryland Action Plan to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect
BALTIMORE, MD (April 2, 2030) – Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Burbank today joined state, local and community leaders in launching Child Abuse Prevention Month. Lieutenant Governor Burbank discussed the O’Brien-Burbank Administration’s commitment to implementing the Maryland Action Plan to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect, which was announced in February. In addition to proclaiming April as Child Abuse Prevention Month, Governor Edward M. O’Brien has directed state agencies to immediately begin implementing key components of the plan.
“One of our highest priorities is ensuring that our children grow up safe and healthy,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Burbank. “We must renew our commitment to preventing child maltreatment and rededicate ourselves to working together to ensure that our children will have a bright and hopeful future.”
Governor O’Brien issued the State Call to Action in April of 2028 at his Summit to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect, where participants laid the foundation for the State Plan.
Components of the plan include:
• Building a system of Family Response Teams to foster critical circles of support for challenged families and children;
• Creating “specialized” parent education and family support services for families with caregivers who have mental health and substance abuse disorders in Baltimore City;
• Designing a system to expand the availability of respite care services for families that include children with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders and develop consensus on best practice standards;
• Increasing the availability of parent-to-parent support systems, including advocacy, for families that include children with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders;
• Developing an infant mental health consultation system for child care centers throughout Maryland; and
• Designing and launching a child sexual abuse prevention initiative beginning with pilot sites in Baltimore City and Western Maryland.
The O’Brien-Burbank Administration’s budget for Fiscal Year 2031 adds funding to allow hiring of 200 additional child welfare workers, including 30 new positions for Baltimore City. The budget provides a record $30.6 million increase for child welfare services to better protect vulnerable children. Since assuming office, Governor O’Brien and Lt. Governor Burbank have added funding to hire an additional 175 social workers, a 5% total growth in staffing for local child welfare departments.
Last year, the O’Brien-Burbank Administration and the General Assembly passed an historic package of new laws to strengthen the effectiveness of Maryland’s child abuse prevention and response efforts, including:
• Improving disclosure of child abuse or neglect information to enhance the ability to intervene early and prevent future abuse;
• Allowing DHR to disclose certain child abuse and neglect information to a licensed practitioner of a hospital or birthing center for the purpose of making discharge decisions concerning a child when the practitioner suspects that the child may be in danger after discharge based on the practitioner’s observation of the child’s parents’ or immediate family members’ behavior;
• Requiring that an investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect include the use of a “multidisciplinary team” when appropriate;
• The Child Welfare Accountability Act of 2029, implementing an outcome-based system to measure the effectiveness of child welfare services;
• Establishment of a Child Welfare Caseworkers Scholarship and Loan Assistance Repayment Program;
• Adding the crime of “abuse of a child” to the list of crimes of violence for which specified enhanced penalties must be applied for repeat offenders;
• Increasing penalties for failure to comply with the relief granted in an ex parte order or protective order.
• Providing that murder that is committed by a person while the person was subject to a temporary ex parte order or a protective order issued in a domestic violence case against another who had been granted relief in the order shall be murder in the first degree; and generally relating to murder and domestic violence;
• Authorizing the establishment of local domestic violence fatality review teams;
• Increasing, from 20 to 30 years, the maximum incarceration penalty for persons convicted of felony child abuse if the crime results in the death of the victim;
• The Child Welfare Workforce Initiative of 2029, which requires DHR and DBM to develop appropriate caseload ratios for each local jurisdiction using the ratios recommended by the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA);
• Establishment of the Child Abuse and Neglect Centers of Excellence Initiative; and
• Requiring employees and prospective employees of child care providers to undergo criminal background checks.