The 1-year-old boy was brought to the hospital with numerous bruises over his face and back. His photos showed a cute boy, but with a vacant look in his eyes. Large, ugly purple bruises marred his face.

His mother’s boyfriend had been punching him whenever he woke up at night. A concerned relative brought him to the emergency room. Two weeks later he came to the Center for Miracles where further testing revealed eight broken ribs.

Nancy Kellogg, M.D., is director of the Center for Miracles, a child abuse and neglect assessment center.
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This is just one of thousands of stories that Nancy Kellogg, M.D., could tell. Recognized by her peers in Texas as the foremost authority on physical, psychological and sexual abuse of children, Dr. Kellogg has dealt with more than 10,000 cases of child abuse over 21 years. She is a professor of pediatrics at the Health Science Center and medical director of the Center for Miracles, a child abuse and neglect assessment center.

Center for Miracles
The Center for Miracles, which just observed its one-year anniversary, is a collaboration of several organizations including the Health Science Center’s department of pediatrics, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital, and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, otherwise known as Child Protective Services.

The center works with Bexar County children who are suspected of being abused or neglected. The center evaluates the children regarding their safety at home, as well as their medical, mental health and developmental needs.

During its first year, more than 1,000 children and families were served by the center. In comparison, 24,527 cases of child abuse were reported to Child Protective Services in 2006; 4,718 were confirmed cases of child abuse.

Challenges of the calling
“We work with all types of families. Some know they’ve made mistakes and want to do better. Some won’t admit they’ve made mistakes. Others don’t realize they need help,” Dr. Kellogg said.

“The hardest families to work with are the ones that are repeatedly referred to Child Protective Services. They cannot or will not change their lives to keep their children healthy or safe,” Dr. Kellogg explained. “We want to give these families every opportunity to provide appropriate care for their children, but these are the children we worry about the most. Fortunately, Child Protective Services can provide ongoing services and monitoring for many of these families using the court system to ensure compliance and improvement.”

Other Health Science Center physicians on staff
Two other Health Science Center physicians also work at the center and a third will be joining the staff in June:

• James Anderst, M.D., assistant clinical professor of pediatrics and a staff physician at the Center for Miracles, is finishing his fellowship in child abuse at the Health Science Center. He will soon be going full time with the center.
• Reginald Moore, M.D., clinical professor of pediatrics and staff physician, works part time at the Center for Miracles.
• James L. Lukefahr, M.D., will be joining the center and the Health Science Center as a member of the division of child abuse pediatrics this summer. Dr. Lukefahr is coming from the division of general academic pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He has served as medical director of the ABC Center for the Evaluation of Victims of Child Abuse and Neglect, the Advocacy Center for Children of Galveston County and the Brazoria County Children’s Advocacy Center.

Expanding services
Dr. Kellogg noted that child abuse is difficult to diagnose, both clinically and emotionally. “As we expand our division of child abuse in June with Dr. Lukefahr and Dr. Anderst being available full time, we hope to extend more services and assistance to physicians and health care facilities in the city,” she said. “This is a problem that requires collaboration, cooperation and commitment from all of our health care providers. As we learn more about the problem in our community, we can turn our efforts to prevention, which could be the most rewarding venture of all.”

For more information
To find out more about the Center for Miracles, call 210-704-3800.