Child Assessment Program

Le Bonheur’s Child Assessment Program provides services to children who have experienced physical and sexual abuse. Patients are referred to our program by other doctors and social workers in the hospital who are concerned that a child’s injuries may be the result of maltreatment. When children are referred, the team performs medical and psycho-social assessments of those children and their families. A key aspect of the teams’ job is to determine when to report a to child welfare and law enforcement authorities is appropriate and to follow-up with those authorities to ensure safe discharge for children. Additionally, the team identifies services in the community that can strengthen families and provides referrals to those services.

Each year, there are nearly 8,000 investigations of possible child abuse and/or neglect in Shelby County. Of that number more than 2,000 children were either abused or neglected. Le Bonheur’s development and support of the Child Assessment Program is at the heart of our efforts to bring attention and focus to the issue of child maltreatment and to work with families and other agencies to bring about good outcomes for children in our community.

As a result of this commitment in June 2009 we expanded our services by providing timely, sensitive forensic medical exams and treatment for children in the Le Bonheur Child Assessment Clinic, located at The Child Advocacy Center. The Le Bonheur Child Assessment Clinic is a collaboration with the Child Protection Investigation Team and The Child Advocacy Center.
In the Child Assessment Clinic, pediatric experts are ready 24-hours a day, 7-days a week to meet the needs of the community. Our team includes a dedicated pediatrician, director of social work, pediatric and family nurse practitioners, pediatric trained chaplains and certified child life specialists.

We believe that children are not little adults. They need the pediatric caregivers, experts and specialists affiliated with the region’s only full service children’s hospital. This collaboration offers children with a single integrated point of service to receive a forensic interview, a forensic medical exam and any needed medical diagnostics and treatment.

The Child Assessment Team

Karen Lakin, M.D.
Medical Director, Child Assessment Program
Dr. Karen Lakin is a board-certified, pediatric physician certified in child abuse. She is a member of the invitation-only Ray E. Helfer Society of physicians specializing in the evaluation of child maltreatment.

Dr. Lakin received her sexual assault training at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. She is qualified as an expert witness in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. She has testified in numerous physical and sexual abuse cases.

Susan Steppe, LMSW
Director, Social Work; Director, Child Assessment Program
Susan Steppe has more than 30 years experience in the field of child welfare programs. She has worked with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services serving in various positions including the statewide Director of Child Protective Services and the Regional Administrator of Davidson County.

Prior to coming to Le Bonheur to develop the Child Assessment Program, Susan worked with the University of Tennessee’s College of Social Work as a consultant. In that capacity she facilitated the Tennessee Joint Task Force on Child Sexual Abuse and Children’s Justice, helping develop and implement State Child Sexual Abuse Plans.

She serves as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau for Child and Family Service Review project. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky and her Master of Science in Social Work at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Nurse Practitioners

The Le Bonheur Child Assessment Team includes pediatric and family nurse practitioners all of whom have experience in child abuse and advanced training which includes forensic gynecological examinations. All are Sexual Abuse Nurse Examiner certified or eligible.

Child Life Specialists

The team includes a child life specialist trained to help children cope with trauma and stress associated with medical intervention and a pediatric trained chaplain.