The training that law enforcement and social service personnel got this week in Butler went a long way toward improving how child abuse cases are prosecuted.

Held in conjunction with Child Abuse Prevention Month, the mass training by ChildFirst Pennsylvania was the first single-county, mass training held in the state, said co-founder Jason Kutulakis of Cumberland County.

Typically, the organization holds the training at its home facility and different organizations send four or five people at a time to be trained in multidisciplinary skills related to forensic interviewing of children.

Denna Hays, executive director at Butler County Alliance for Children, explained that beginning Jan. 1 the state changed laws regarding child abuse, broadening the definitions of abuse and perpetrator. Because of this, the caseload in all county agencies is expected to increase about 50 percent.