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Partnered with a Survivor: David Mandel and Ruth Reymundo MandelAuthor: Ruth Reymundo Mandel & David Mandel
This podcast is a series of conversations. What started as a series of intimate conversations between Ruth and David that ranged from personal to professional experiences around violence, relationships, abuse, and system and professional responses which harm, not help, has now become a global conversation about systems and culture change. In many episodes, David and Ruth are joined by a global leader in different areas like child safety, men and masculinity, and, of course, partnering with survivors. Each episode is a deep dive into complex topics like how systems fail domestic abuse survivors and their children, societal views of masculinity and violence, and how intersectionalities such as cultural beliefs, religious beliefs, and unique vulnerabilities impact how we respond to abuse and violence. These far-ranging discussions offer an insider look into how we navigate the world together as professionals, as parents, and as partners. During these podcasts, David and Ruth challenge the notions which keep all of us from moving forward collectively as systems, as cultures, and as families into safety, nurturance, and healing. We hope you join us.Have an idea for a podcast? Tell about it here: https://share.hsforms.com/1l329DGB1TH6AFndCFfB7aA3a1w1 Language: en-us Genres: News, Politics, Relationships, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Season 7 Episode 4: When Violence Hides In Plain Sight: Expanding Clinical Curiosity to Protect Children with Dr. Norell Rosado
Episode 4
Tuesday, 10 February, 2026
What if doctors and medical professionals, highly trained to identify child maltreatment through bruises and fractures, miss many injuries in children that leave no visible marks yet are biologically and developmentally formative in ways that shape a child’s entire quality of life and health?In this episode of Partnered with a Survivor, David and Ruth sit down with Dr. Norell Rosado, a child abuse pediatrician at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, to examine how child maltreatment is currently identified in medical settings and where that approach falls dangerously short. We discuss how we can assist medical practitioners to better assess for child abuse injuries and danger that may not be seen by using a pattern-based—rather than an incident-based—approach. Dr. Rosado explains that bruises and fractures remain the primary lens through which child physical abuse is identified, even though neglect is the most common form of maltreatment and many serious injuries leave no visible marks. Together, we explore how this narrow focus combined with time pressure, fear of court involvement, and lack of behavioral training creates gaps that allows for harm to go unseen by professionals. The conversation moves beyond bruise- and bone-based injuries to patterns that may help uncover silent injuries and invisible abuse. We unpack how domestic abuse and coercive control interfere with children’s health in ways pediatric care often misses, including limbic harm, developmental delays, and failure to thrive. We discuss perpetrator patterns like disrupting therapy and medication adherence; restricting access to food, heat, or transportation; and undermining a protective parent’s ability to follow medical guidance or maintain safe housing. We ask the critical question rarely built into clinical practice: Is anyone interfering with this child’s care or this parent’s ability to parent safely?Dr. Rosado speaks candidly about mandated reporting, reasonable suspicion, and the anxieties clinicians face, especially when they have long-standing relationships with families. He also highlights the role of bias and why simple, consistent protocols can help clinicians ask better questions, reduce inequities, and document patterns rather than isolated incidents.From traumatic brain injuries without bruising to emerging research on epigenetics, the episode makes clear that exposure to violence can alter gene expression, increasing lifelong risk for chronic disease, disability, and early death. Child maltreatment, we argue, is not just a clinical concern. It is a multigenerational public health emergency.Send a text Now available! Mapping the Perpetrator’s Pattern: A Practitioner’s Tool for Improving Assessment, Intervention, and Outcomes The web-based Perpetrator Pattern Mapping Tool is a virtual practice tool for improving assessment, intervention, and outcomes through a perpetrator pattern-based approach. The tool allows practitioners to apply the Model’s critical concepts and principles to their current case load in realCheck out David Mandel's new book Stop Blaming Mothers and Ignoring Fathers: How to Transform the Way We Keep Children Safe from Domestic Violence.Visit the Safe & Together Institute website.Start taking Safe & Together Institute courses. Check out Safe & Together Institute upcoming events.
