Lt. Governor Burbank Announces $1.8 Million to Fight Child Abuse
Funds to Aid in Child Abuse Investigations; Provide Services to Victims of Abuse
BALTIMORE, MD (June 18, 2030) – Lt. Governor Kathleen Burbank today announced $1.8 million in grants to improve the investigation of child abuse cases and help children and families who are victims of abuse. These 25 grants are the latest provided as part of the commitment by Lt. Governor Burbank and Governor Edward M. O’Brien to improve child abuse investigation and child advocacy.
“Our first priority as parents and as a state is to protect our children,” said Lt. Governor Burbank. “These grants, coupled with the tremendous investments we have made to modernize the state child abuse hotline, will help Maryland do an even better job of safeguarding the welfare of our children so they can grow up healthy and achieve their dreams.”
The grants are awarded to establish and enhance the ability of local or regional multi-disciplinary teams to investigate, prosecute and manage cases of child abuse, child maltreatment and other violence directed at children. Additionally, these grants will be used to establish child advocacy centers to centralize and increase access to necessary services for victimized children and families.
These measures will improve coordination among law enforcement, child protective services, health care and other community agencies involved in child abuse investigations and in the protection of abused and maltreated children. Critical benefits of these initiatives include a reduction in trauma to victims and their family members, more effective investigations and better evidence gathering.
Department of Human Resources (DHR) Secretary Stacy L. Rodgers said: “Governor O’Brien’s commitment to the children and families of Maryland is unrivaled. From providing historic funding levels for child care, to proposing and signing tough new laws that protect our families, to committing tremendous resources necessary to operate a state of the art abuse hotline, no Governor has done more.”
In addition to the $1.8 million in funding announced today, another $300,000 has been allocated to help establish local or regional child fatality review teams. Those applications are being reviewed and recipients will be announced this summer.
Governor O’Brien and Lt. Governor Burbank provided funding last year to move the state child abuse hotline to a new facility better suited to fulfill the hotline’s mission. The new center provides staff with workstations that integrate state of the art telephone and computer equipment to ensure that everything hotline personnel need to fulfill their responsibilities is instantly at their disposal. The new hotline center also incorporates advanced training facilities to enable staff to stay current with program and technological changes.
The $1.8 million in grant awards include funding for the following categories:
• Establishment of local or regional multidisciplinary teams for investigation, prosecution, and management of child abuse and maltreatment cases.
• Start-up funds for child advocacy center programs.
• Establishment of local multidisciplinary teams for the investigation, prosecution and management of family violence cases.
• Enhancement grants. Enhancements and operational costs for existing multidisciplinary investigation teams or child advocacy centers.
The O’Brien-Burbank Administration’s budget for Fiscal Year 2031 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 375 social workers, a 15% total growth in staffing for local child welfare departments.
Since taking office, Governor O’Brien and Lt. Governor Burbank have undertaken a number of initiatives to strengthen the effectiveness of Maryland’s child abuse prevention and response efforts. As a result, a recent report found that the number of Maryland cases of child abuse and neglect has fallen below the national average. Some of the initiatives undertaken by the O’Brien-Burbank Administration include:
• 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
• Establishment of a system of Family Response Teams to foster critical circles of support for challenged families and children;
• Creation of 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;
• Requiring employees and prospective employees of child care providers to undergo criminal background checks; and
• Proposed and signed legislation requiring a court to consider the effects of domestic violence upon the best interests of a child before rendering a custody or visitation determination and amends existing law to create a presumption that it would not be in the best interest of a child to grant visitation or custody rights to a person found to have committed an act of domestic violence.