29 Apr Child Abuse Prevention Month Recap!
In case you hadn’t heard: April was Child Abuse Prevention Month! Kosair Charities’ Face It Movement, along with over 100 partner organizations, spent the month raising awareness of this important issue and reminding us that we ALL have a role to play in child abuse prevention.
Throughout the month, Face It hosted 11 virtual events and training sessions with over 200 professionals, advocates, parents, and community members in attendance. Topics included child abuse prevention in faith-based organizations, self-care for parents, keeping kids safe in a digital world, and healing and reclaiming life after childhood abuse, among others.
Face It co-hosted an Advocate Virtual Forum with Kentucky Youth Advocates where advocates had the opportunity to hear from Governor Andy Beshear and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander on how we can prevent child abuse and strengthen families across Kentucky.
We also highlighted the important roles fathers play in prevention efforts with our partners from 502 Fathers, The Fatherhood Initiative, and Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky and released a brand-new resource, 10 Activities to Engage with your Infant and Toddler, to support fathers and other caregivers as they navigate life with little ones.
Face It engaged those within the healthcare field throughout the month by offering a free Pediatric Abusive Head Trauma training for oral health professionals and partnering with Delta Dental to release a new online toolkit for health professionals, featuring resources on preventing, recognizing, and reporting child abuse and neglect.
Face It and our partners were also featured in several news stories across the state, including a Courier Journal op-ed (Why we must focus on neglect during Child Abuse Prevention Month), an In-Focus Kentucky feature by Spectrum News 1 (In Focus: Child abuse prevention advocates on Kentucky’s child abuse rate), and a story on Assignment Education featured on KET and WAVE 3 News lifting up the important work that Face It and our many partners do to keep Kentucky kids safe.
Child Abuse Prevention Month gives us a platform to raise awareness of the unacceptable incidences of child maltreatment in Kentucky and highlight ways we can have an impact as individuals and as communities. However, the work is not done. Until child abuse is no longer an issue in our state, Face It and our partners will continue to advocate for policies and practices that protect our kids and families. And we need YOUR help along the way. It is as important as ever to ensure we are preventing child maltreatment by supporting parents and caregivers and reporting any suspicions of abuse or neglect.
Make a gift to the Kosair Charities’ Child Abuse Prevention Fund to support these efforts. Stay up-to-date on parenting tips and information by following the Face It Movement on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and by subscribing to Face It’s text alerts by texting “FacingIt” to 565-25.