The Shaken Baby Alliance
The Shaken Baby Alliance is an organization that was developed by three mothers whose children were victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome. The Alliance provides many services to both professionals and the public in order to assist with the prevention of and increase awareness about Shaken Baby Syndrome, as well as to provide protection to abused children.
These women have used their negative experiences to bring help and assistance to families all over the country. They have firsthand experience with the severity and the consequences of shaking a baby.
They know better than most about the irreversible effect that this behavior and action will cause. A child who has been subjected to Shaken Baby Syndrome may never recover. The Shaken Baby Alliance recognizes the importance of educating individuals about this serious and fatal form of abuse, as well as the necessity of developing effective prevention programs.
The professional training that is offered by the Shaken Baby Alliance is focused on providing individuals in various fields with the knowledge that they need in order to understand the causes of Shaken Baby Syndrome and allows them to use information that has been gathered in order to make effective decisions that may change the outcome of a case.
These training programs are aimed at individuals who are medical professionals, police officers, lawyers, paramedics and EMTS, social workers, teachers, and child care employees. These programs will assist professionals in recognizing and helping abused children. Some of the topics that may be covered in training programs include medical symptoms that abused children will display, investigative methods, legal aspects of child abuse cases, and crime scene photography.
The Shaken Baby Alliance also offers criminal justice professionals with assistance by providing them with thorough case consultations. These consultations are provided by investigators and attorneys that have a great deal of experience handling cases that involve abused children. The Alliance also takes part in nationwide conferences that are aimed at Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention and education.
This organization provides families that have suffered from this syndrome with free guides that provide information regarding the long term effects of Shaken Baby Syndrome, how to care for abused children, and information to help families understand the legal process. The Alliance has developed a high school child abuse prevention program that is targeted at high risk groups.
One of the most heartbreaking, hard hitting, and powerful aspects of the Alliance is that they have created an online database called Shaken Angels. Shaken Angels allows families from all over the nation to post pictures and stories about the children who have suffered from Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Some of these stories are submitted by mothers who have walked in on their husbands violently shaking their baby, or by girls who have lost a beloved sister due to the senseless act of an adult. These stories make the consequences of shaking a child real and tangible. It allows individuals to read firsthand about the irreversible damage that Shaken Baby Syndrome causes.
Individuals who wish to support this cause can make donations to the Alliance, or they can choose to begin a prevention program of their own. This form of abuse is awful, and more attention needs to be focused on preventing it.
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