Social Workers

Citing the "bravery of two" but noting the "valor of all" their colleagues, the state's governor and city's mayor lauded Thursday the workers who helped save an infant being stabbed at a social services office in East Baltimore. William Purnell Short III hit the suspect with a chair, forcing her to drop the infant, and Dana Hayes screamed for help, prompting a flurry of 911 calls that got police and paramedics quickly to the social services complex on Biddle Street on April 24. Short held the suspect — who police said bit him on the hands — until police arrived.

The woman who allegedly stabbed her infant daughter at a city social services office Tuesday concealed the knife in a purse that was hand-searched by security guards but not put through a metal detector, a top state official says. Theodore Dallas, secretary of the Department of Human Resources, said Friday that private security guards who missed the long, silver-bladed kitchen knife followed procedures in place at the time. The 29-year-old suspect, who has been charged with attempted murder, did go through a metal detector at the building's entrance, he said.

State officials announced Friday morning new safety rules in the aftermath of this week's stabbing of an 8-month-old child, allegedly by the mother during a supervised visit at an East Baltimore social services office. The new rules give social workers more leeway in deciding whether to have security present at meetings and all bags will have to emptied and then checked before visitors are allowed inside. Union representatives had complained that private security guards are inadequate given that social workers routinely meet with distraught parents who in many cases have had their children taken away.

The stabbing of an 8-month-old baby, allegedly by the mother during a visit to a social service's office, is raising all kinds of questions, mostly about security at the sprawling office on East Biddle Street. How did the mother get by security with what police described as a long kitchen knife inside a bag? State officials say visitors go through a metal detector, have their bags searched and have to present ID, and they're investigating whether proper procedures were followed.

Over the past two years, Maureen Coyle has received $5,700 in property tax breaks that the city admits she never requested for her Patterson Park rowhouse. Now the city is demanding full repayment by month's end. If she doesn't or can't pay by then, the city says she'll be hit with $990 in penalties and interest. "This will definitely be a hardship to put it mildly," said Coyle, a social worker who doesn't have "a spare $5,700 just hanging around. " Coyle is one of a handful of city homeowners who suddenly owe back taxes after The Baltimore Sun reviewed a random sample of homes receiving a tax credit for renovations to historic properties.

Children need protection from adults who sexually abuse them, and adults should report abuse when they suspect it ("A better way to help kids," Feb. 6). It should be as simple as that. But although Maryland law requires everyone to report suspected cases of abuse - not just educators, health practitioners and social workers - unlike 47 other states, there is no penalty for failure to meet this important obligation. Those of us on the front lines in investigating child abuse cases see a need for significant penalties for failing to report child abuse.

College graduates of 2011 are earning an average of $41,701, a 2.3 percent increase over the Class of 2010 earned starting out. Those are the latest findings of the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Business majors and graduates entering the world of finance had some of the highest salaries and increases. Overall, the average starting salary in the business world was $48,144, or 3.8 percent more than biz graduates of 2010 earned. The highest starting salary - $77,640 - went to those working in securities, commodities, trusts and other investment services.

Children often witness domestic violence, but social workers have had no standardized way to examine how they are affected by it. Now, Baltimore County's social services department has partnered with experts from the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Minnesota to develop a screening tool that would, for the first time, quantify the impact of domestic violence on children. "There is no specific protocol, and particularly for the really young kids, on how you assess the level of domestic violence," said Kathleen King, a supervisor with Child Protective Services.

An employee taking a lunchtime stroll during a break from his job at the Social Security Administration headquarters in Woodlawn was robbed and shot on a secluded wooded path on Monday, prompting officials to put the federal campus on lockdown. The shooting occurred about 11:45 a.m. off Social Security property. Police said the victim walked or stumbled back toward the sprawling complex and collapsed on an access road near Woodlawn Drive and Parallel Road, near the entrance to the Social Security West building and a series of parking lots.