2025 AACAP Marilyn B. Benoit, MD, Child Maltreatment Mentorship Award
This opportunity is made possible by a generous donation from Ms. Lisa Yang who established this award in honor of Marilyn B. Benoit, MD, to bring attention to issues surrounding child maltreatment.
Objective
The AACAP Marilyn B. Benoit, MD, Child Maltreatment Mentorship Award seeks to provide an experiential opportunity for up to two child and adolescent psychiatry residents, child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) fellows, or early career psychiatrists (ECPs) within 7 years of graduating from a fellowship program and who show interest in the fields of child welfare, foster care, and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention. Under the supervision of an experienced mentor, each awardee will collaborate and design a project that will raise awareness and interest in these subject areas.
Goals
- Increase awareness and interest in the fields of child welfare, foster care, and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention;
- Recognize child and adolescent psychiatrists who specialize in the fields of child welfare, foster care, and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention;
- Create a community of knowledgeable and effective teachers who will become leaders in the fields of child welfare, foster care, and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention who will serve as a resource for all AACAP members.
Number of Awards
AACAP will select 1 or a maximum of 2 awardees, yearly.
Activities
Over the course of the award term (12 to 16 weeks), each recipient will collaborate with a chosen mentor to create a project designed to enhance awareness and interest in the field of child welfare, foster care, and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention. Awardees will submit a preliminary and final report detailing their experiences as well as collaborate with their mentor to co-author a submission to AACAP News for publication.
Mentors
Each awardee will recruit a mentor who has had experience in key issues in the areas of child welfare, foster care and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention. It is preferred that the mentor’s work include children and adolescents but he or she does not need to be a child and adolescent psychiatrist by training.
Mentor responsibilities include:
- Contacting mentee on a regular basis for the duration of the project activity implementation period;
- Advising and supporting the mentee on the development, execution and completion of the proposed training project;
- Working with mentee as a second author in a submission to AACAP News detailing experience.
Award Distribution
Each recipient will receive up to $8,000 (based on number of awardees selected) in two disbursements:
- First disbursement of 50% of allotted funds will be sent upon:
- Receipt of signed Letter of Agreement between AACAP and the recipient clearly outlining expectations
- Receipt of completed W9 Tax Form
- Receipt of preliminary Report
- Second disbursement of 50%of allotted funds will be sent upon:
- Receipt of Final Report
- Receipt of thank-you letters
- Submission of an article to AACAP News in which the recipient will be the primary author and their mentor will serve as the secondary author. The article will outline the project as well as the recipient’s experience. This requirement must be completed within one month of the close of the award.
Acceptable Use of Funds
- Expenses for recipient to participate, present, and/or conduct meetings or trainings including the creation and distribution of materials necessary (handouts/posters) and other accommodations for such events.
- Enrollment in courses related to the topic.
- Compensation for statistical analysis or for conducting some type of methodology as related to research training project.
- Salary support.
- Funds MAY NOT be used for lobbying purposes.
Length of Program
12 to 16 Weeks
Award Requirements
- Applicant must be a current AACAP member or have a pending membership application submitted. Funds received by this award cannot be used to cover membership costs.
- Applicant must be either a child and adolescent psychiatry resident, child and adolescent psychiatry fellow, or early career psychiatrist within 7 years of graduating a fellowship program.
- Applicant must have a mentor who has had experience in key issues in the areas of child welfare, foster care and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention. It is preferred that the mentor’s work include children and adolescents. The mentor does not need to be a child and adolescent psychiatrist by training.
- Signed Letter of Agreement (LOA) between AACAP and the recipient clearly outlining expectations.
- Submission of an article outlining experience for AACAP News in which the mentor will serve as the secondary author to the article. This requirement must be completed within one month of the close of the award.
- Inclusion of an appropriate acknowledgement statement with all presentations and publications resulting from the award. An example of an appropriate acknowledgement statement is “This publication/presentation was made possible through an award sponsored by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Marilyn B. Benoit, MD, Child Maltreatment Mentorship Award, supported by AACAP.”
- Preliminary report further detailing project, the work to be accomplished, project timeline, proposed use of allotted funds, and how the child and adolescent psychiatrist mentor will be involved to be completed before start of project.
- Final report further detailing the work that was accomplished, outcomes of the project, and personal/professional growth from project to be completed and submitted no more than 30 days post project completion.
- The award recipient must write thank-you letters to Dr. Marilyn B. Benoit and Lisa Yang. A copy of each letter will be sent to the AACAP staff liaison.
- Participants agree to participate in all annual surveys as part of the program evaluation process.
Application Requirements
- Completed online award application which includes:
- Personal statement including interest in child welfare, foster care and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention, of no more than two pages (single spaced, no less than 12 pt. font and 1” margins).
- A proposal of no more than three pages (single spaced, no less than 12 pt. font and 1” margins) outlining:
- Intended project aims.
- Intended project timeline with tentative dates of all activities proposed.
- Identification of mentor with whom the recipient will be working with.
- Intended use and distribution of budget.
- The applicant’s current curriculum vitae or biosketch.
- The mentor’s current curriculum vitae or biosketch.
- A letter of support from the residency training director, of no more than two pages (single spaced, no less than 12 pt. font and 1” margins). If you do not have a supervisor, please provide a letter of support from a professional reference.
- A letter of support from the proposed mentor, of no more than two pages (single spaced, no less than 12 pt. font and 1” margins), including a brief description about how he/she will play a key role in shaping and assisting the candidate in fulfilling the needs of this award.
Selection Process
Applications will undergo review by AACAP members with experience in child welfare, foster care and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention and related topics.
- Administrative Review – Applications will be reviewed for submission of all application materials. Incomplete applications will not be forwarded for further review. Please ensure you meet the eligibility requirements and have submitted all requested application materials before finalizing your application.
- Selection & Review – Applications will undergo a review process by senior AACAP members with relevant expertise. Applications will be scored by a panel comprised of the co-chairs of both the Child Maltreatment and Violence Committee and the Adoption and Foster Care Committee as well as Dr. Marilyn B. Benoit. The Selection Committee will prepare written reviews and score all applications using the following criteria:
- Significance: Degree to which proposal addresses an important issue relating to child welfare, foster care and/or child maltreatment prevention/intervention.
- Approach: Degree to which the proposal is adequately developed, well integrated, well-reasoned, and appropriate to the aims of the project.
- Innovation: Originality and innovativeness of proposal.
- Applicant: Degree of which the applicant is well-suited to carry out the proposal.
- Environment: Degree to which the scientific environment in which the work will be done and the mentor with whom the work will be done contribute to the probability of success.
- Mentor: Alignment of mentor qualifications with proposal’s intent and goals.
- Budget: Proposed use of allotted funds.
- Feasibility: Potential for a successful and feasible mentor experience in the allotted time.
Previous Award Recipients
For a listing of previous award recipients as well as a link to their published AACAP News articles please follow this link.
Application Deadline: April 7, 2025
Need More Information?
Contact AACAP’s Clinical Practice Program Manager at clinical@aacap.org.
