Elmer, Elizabeth

Elizabeth "Betty" Elmer was born in Black Rock, Arkansas, in 1911. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Music in 1932 from Syracuse University. During World War II she worked at a military hospital in Guam as a member of the Red Cross, a role which drew the praise of colleagues and deepened her interest in humanitarian concerns. Following the war, Elmer enrolled in the Smith College School of Social Work, where she received a Master's Degree in Psychiatric Social Work in 1948. She initially worked for family agencies in both Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Rochester, New York, before relocating to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to pursue a research opportunity. Elmer began as an instructor at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Social Work in 1954, and it was while supervising students at the Children's Hospital a few years later that she happened upon an incident of infant trauma that would affect a reorientation of her career. Attempting to pursue further details on what she believed to be a unique trauma from the previous night, Elmer was shocked to learn that the hospital had numerous records of a infants admitted with similar injuries. Her initial concern over the regularity of infant abuse grew, as further research confirmed that no legal apparatus prevented the return of such cases to parental custody. Literature on the subject of child abuse was nearly non-existent in the 1950s, and the little that was available was thoroughly obscured by the clinical language and limited audience involved with publication in medical journals. Elmer moved from the Graduate School of Social Work to the School of Medicine in 1962, where she first taught in the Department of Pediatrics and subsequently, the Department of Psychiatry until her 1981 resignation. Elmer retained the distinction of Emeritus Professor of Child Psychiatry, but was focusing on other professional activity. Primarily she was busy with the Parental Stress Center (PSC) which she co-founded in 1975. The PSC was designed to educate and assist families with abused and at-risk children by providing resources, training and intervention. During her time at both the University of Pittsburgh and the PSC, Elmer conducted a number of pioneering studies into child and infant abuse. The results of several of these studies formed the material for her two books, Children in Jeopardy: a study of abused minors and their families and Fragile Families, Troubled Children: the aftermath of infant trauma. She also initiated Bright Beginnings, a parental education program for similar purposes. In her retirement from teaching and the PSC, Elmer served on the board of directors for Safe and Sound, the Western Pennsylvania Chapter for the Prevention of Child Abuse. Elmer passed away in April of 2007 at the age of 96. Family Resources Inc., a Pittsburgh child abuse prevention organization, presents an annual Betty Elmer Award.