Former Children & Youth administrator in Cumberland County joins PA Family Support Alliance board

HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The retired administrator of Cumberland County Children & Youth Services has joined the board of the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance (PFSA) and says the nonprofit agency has an important role in providing "practical knowledge" to people who need to know how to recognize and report child abuse.

Gary I. Shuey retired six years ago from Cumberland County Children & Youth Services and has since taken on the task of serving as social work supervisor at the Children's Advocacy Clinic operated by the Penn State Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle. In that role he supervises graduate social work students from local social work schools such as Millersville, and Shippensburg universities who consult with law students on child welfare or custody cases referred by local courts.

PFSA specializes in providing training to "mandated reporters"—individuals who come into contact with children by virtue of their occupations, such as police officers and teachers, who are legally required to report suspected child abuse. During its 2011-12 program year, PFSA has trained 9,400 mandated reporters in how to recognize and report child abuse.

Shuey praised the work PFSA has done to date and said he hopes as a board member to contribute a knowledge of children's issues "from the ground up" and familiarity with training issues, particularly with respect to adult learning "and what it takes to reach that segment."

He noted that it's important in the wake of the highly publicized Sandusky scandal—the conviction of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on 45 counts of child sexual abuse—to spend time analyzing what happened, what the child welfare system did well and didn't do well, before rushing into solutions. 

He said it's important to complete this process in order to avoid "unintended consequences" that can result from hurriedly enacted programs or legislative reforms. "After everything has been vetted and well-discussed, then we can move forward."

Shuey began his career in 1968 as a caseworker for York County Children & Youth Services, transferring in 1969 to the Bureau of Children's Services in Lancaster where he supervised the Congregate Care Unit. After seven years there, he moved to Cumberland County Children & Youth Services where he served as agency administrator. He retired from the Cumberland County agency in 2006 after 30 years there. He holds a master's degree in social work from Marywood University and is a licensed social worker

In addition to training mandated reporters, PFSA serves as the exclusive Pennsylvania sponsor of The Front Porch Project®, a program that provides hands-on training to help people at the neighborhood level learn concrete skills to prevent and deal with child abuse.

Through partnerships with more than 50 affiliate agencies, PFSA also supplies families across Pennsylvania with educational materials and programs that teach and support good parenting practices.

Other recent appointees to the PFSA board include Jennifer Doyle, director of development and community investment for The Foundation for Enhancing Communities in Harrisburg, and Andi Taroli, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Penn State Children's Hospital at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey.

Visit the PFSA website at www.pa-fsa.org

SOURCE PA Family Support Alliance