April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, an important time of the year to highlight the vital role individuals play throughout our communities in protecting and strengthening families. Frontier Health is dedicated to encouraging all individuals and organizations to play a critical role in making a better place for children and families. By ensuring that families and individuals have the resources, knowledge, and skills they need for their children, we can help prevent child abuse and neglect through meaningful connections between families and children throughout our communities.
Research shows that protective factors are present in healthy families. Promoting these factors is among the most effective ways to reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect. They are:
- Nurturing
- Knowledge of parenting and of child and youth development
- Parental resilience
- Social connections
- Concrete supports for parents
- Social and emotional competence of children
“With the increase in reported domestic violence and potential child abuse and neglect over the last year due to the COVID-19 quarantines and social isolation, the issue of child maltreatment is more important to bring to the public awareness now than ever before.” – Tim Perry, Sr. Vice President, Children Services
In support of these efforts, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, its Child Welfare Information Gateway, the FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention and over 30 National Prevention Partners have created the 2021/2022 Prevention Resource Guide: Building Community, Building Hope. The resource guide, designed for service providers who work throughout the community to strengthen families, is available online at https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/preventionmonth/resources/resource-guide/
IN THE NEWS
Rogersville Review: https://www.therogersvillereview.com/news/article_0a62f20d-7c9a-5798-b413-e849bd9816b0.html