Penn State Scandal Highlights Importance of New Maryland Program

This is the third article in a three-part Patch series focusing on Maryland leaders who are working to prevent child abuse.

The country reeled from the last week.

Paterno out. Penn State President Graham Spanier fired. Jerry Sandusky, a former football coach, arrested on multiple counts of child sexual abuse.

But Patricia Cronin, for one, remained unfazed.

"We really shouldn't be shocked," Cronin said. "It's because this is what I do."

Cronin is the executive director of The Family Tree, a Maryland-based nonprofit that works to prevent child abuse. "I don't know what fell down. Something did," she said. "Obviously adults knew and didn't report it. That, to me, is just an impossibility."

Boundaries should have been set and parents and caregivers needed training, she said.

"If everyone is trained, you can make sure boundaries aren't breached," said Cronin, who also chairs the state council on child abuse and neglect. "Children can't blow the whistle. Adults have to."

To that end, Maryland is one of only two states that recently received a $25,000 grant to implement a campaign called Enough Abuse. The program, which helps train parents, teachers and other adults to detect and prevent child sexual abuse, will be piloted in two Maryland communities. The locations have not yet been determined, but will be chosen by the end of the year, Cronin said.

The campaign first launched in Massachusetts in 2002, after news of widespread child abuse by Catholic Church clergy was uncovered. There is evidence to suggest that this program works, said Melissa Rock, the child welfare director for Advocates for Children and Youth, a group based out of Baltimore and Silver Spring.

"It's OK for parents to need help. We should all be involved in looking out for children and making sure they aren't maltreated and that the children are not to blame," Rock said. "If we have a society where we’re talking about this more, children will feel more comfortable talking to adults that they trust and adults will get involved and protect the children."

Parents play a key role in protecting their children, but the whole community needs to assume some responsibility, Rock said.

"The Penn State situation really highlighted for me how important it is for us to shift to 'It takes a village to raise a child's mentality.' Although we do hear that phrase a lot, truly embracing that will require a paradigm shift," she said. "There is still a stigma about interfering in people's families. We need to eliminate the stigma there is about reporting abuse."

In , former Baltimore Colt Joe Erhmann said athletic programs are a dangerous environment for children.

In the second part, advocates and legislative leaders discussed the difficulties in prosecuting child abusers.