Welcome to the Medical College of Wisconsin Section of Child Advocacy and Protection

Child maltreatment, an Adverse Childhood Experience, is a challenging and complex medical diagnosis. Given its complexity and impact upon the health and welfare of children and families, the American Board of Pediatrics recognized the need for an appropriately trained and certified group of specialists to evaluate this pediatric condition.

In 2006, the American Board of Pediatrics approved child abuse pediatrics as a new subspecialty in pediatrics and inaugurated the first group of board-certified child abuse pediatricians in 2009. Currently, there exist only 348 board-certified child abuse pediatricians in the United States, and only 5 in Wisconsin—all at the Medical College of Wisconsin/Children’s Wisconsin.

The Children’s Hospital Association defines a child maltreatment “Center of Excellence” as a center that is “distinguished by additional educational and research capabilities” and fulfills the following criteria:

• Features larger child protection teams whose members include additional professionals in the hospital
• Offers advanced diagnostic and treatment services that often require consultation with hospital medical and surgical subspecialists
• Is likely to offer an accredited fellowship training in child abuse pediatrics
• May sponsor multicenter trials

Due to strong support from Children’s Wisconsin and the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Child Advocacy and Protection Services (CAPS) is the only recognized Center of Excellence in child maltreatment in Wisconsin, and has grown to become one of the largest, leading academic child abuse programs in the nation. The culturally competent clinical services are extensive and include a very active hospital-based program as well as multiple outpatient child advocacy centers staffed by a cohesive team of physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, and other staff.