In October 2006, Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center established the Child Assessment team to evaluate children entering our hospital who are possible victims of child abuse and neglect.

In 2007, there were more than 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.

The Team Members

• Program Director Susan Steppe
• Medical Director Karen Lakin
• Social Worker Latoya Belgrave
• Nurse Practitioner Ashley Wiederhold. 

Susan Steppe is the former director of Child Protective Services for the state of Tennessee. She has 30 years experience working in child welfare. Susan has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Tennessee.

Patients are referred to the CAP by other doctors and social workers in the hospital who are concerned that a child’s current 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 a report to child welfare and law enforcement authorities is appropriate and to follow-up with those authorities to assure safe discharge for children. Additionally, the team identifies services in the community that can strengthen families and provides referrals to those services.

Le Bonheur’s development and support of the CAP Team is 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.