Red Velvet Wisdom

April is officially declared Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month and our county will honor the day on April 11. For many years I’ve worked in this area and this year I’ve done quite a bit of research on how you actually prevent child abuse. *disclaimer-This does not include pedophiles* I’m talking the abuse and neglect cases that are so prevelant in our country today.  Breast cancer awareness informed women that they needed mamograms and self checks. Exactly what does awareness serve here? How do we prevent abuse?

From the studies I’ve read, it is early intervention.

• Teenagers need training in child development. Do we want more teen pregnancies? No, just setting the foundation for good parenting. They need to learn the stages of child development, the benefits of good nutrition, and positive parenting techniques.
• Community interventions are key. Parents need to connect to other parents in their same situations. They need churches, organizations, and community projects that involve them and model good parenting.
• Consistent reporting by mandated reporters. Yes, it does take a chunk of the day. I know it seems to be such an involved process. But  we must be diligent about reporting and documenting.
• Accept zero tolerance for drug users with babie sor children. In our area it is the drug abuse that causes many parents to lose their children. Children arrive in foster care with levels of meth and other drugs in their systems all too often.

Lately, I’ve become pretty jaded on it all. I see so many parents keep on neglecting over and over. I see people get their babies back from CPS only to go through the cycle again. I hear of babies in crack dens as if it were a McDonalds. People just don’t get it and I guess we can’t force them to at least have a little decency. Maybe my years of seeing it over and over and Joy having the worst cases each day….it is wearing on me.

But. Someone this weekend reminded me that if you save just one child it is all worth it. Of course she is right. Even one is worth all of this.

Wear blue this week. Know your state’s reporting guidelines. Organize a Blue Sunday at your church. Volunteer for something that helps keep kids safe.

We will have a balloon release this coming Saturday. The blue balloons will represent the children who have been abused this year. The white…the deaths.  It is chilling to watch.

In our country, four children die each good each day from abuse. Twenty seven children die each day from poverty. Over 13,000 are abused or neglected in the USA each day.

And I’m not sure why.

http://www.preventchildabusetexas.org/vitialsdaily.html