10 Oct From Awareness to Action: Highlighting Partnerships on TEN-4 Day 2024
This October 4th, the Kosair For Kids Face It Movement once again raised awareness to the critically important TEN-4 FACESp Bruising Rule and emphasized the importance of adults knowing the signs and symptoms of child abuse and how to report it. The Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is the pioneer of this clinic rule. It is based on two decades of children presenting in the ER with injuries. They saw a common set of injuries in those children who were diagnosed with non-accidental trauma.
Throughout the week of October 4th, Face It hosted three Pediatric Abusive Head Trauma recognition and prevention trainings with more than 180 social workers, early childhood educators, community health workers, emergency medical service providers, dentists & dental hygienists, FRYSCs, and nurses in attendance. Participants learned the early warning signs of maltreatment and the various injuries and conditions that may result from vigorous shaking, slamming, or impacting the head of an infant or young child, along with safe sleep practices and tools for dealing with a crying infant and ways to share information with parents to prevent abuse from occurring.
On Friday October 4th, Face It hosted a press conference to recognize TEN-4 Day and statewide efforts to prevent and end child abuse in the Commonwealth, participants heard remarks from Dr. Melissa Currie, one of Kentucky’s Child Abuse Pediatricians, and Tamara Brown, the HANDS Program Director in Jefferson County. Both offered their unique perspectives on the need to understand the bruising rule as well as to understand the role supporting parents of young children plays in preventing tragedies.
TEN-4 Day in Kentucky
Thank you Governor Andy Beshear, Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Allison Ball, and the 32 elected leaders throughout Kentucky who proclaimed Friday, October 4th as TEN-4 Awareness Day 2024, including 22 Kentucky counties and 9 Kentucky cities.This year, Family Enrichment Center in Bowling Green hosted a proclamation signing and press conference as well as elected leaders in Richmond!
We thank Family Enrichment Center, Family Nurturing Center, and Mountain Comprehensive Care Center for their support in securing local proclamations.
TEN-4 Day across the U.S.
With partners at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Mass General Brigham in Boston, efforts have spread across the nation with TEN-4 Day 2024 being recognized by the Governors in Arkansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
In South Dakota, the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment led a statewide child abuse conference that concluded on October 4th.
In Michigan, the Office of the Child Advocate partnered with many stakeholders including the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Emergency Preparedness EMS and Systems of Care to produce a TEN-4 FACESp video and toolkit. The video was shared via email to ~370,000 medical providers! Additionally, the Michigan State Police have agreed to input TEN-4 FACESp into their policy manual for guidance on CAN investigations. The video will be played for all Michigan police academy recruits during child abuse investigation instruction.
In Connecticut, Children’s hospitals across the state, led by Yale, are developing a child abuse consultation process for frontline first responders.
Lectures, Grand Rounds, op-eds, social media, and media releases were held in New Jersey at Cooper University, in Tennessee at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, in Arkansas at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, in Massachusetts at Boston Children’s and Mass General Hospital, in Nevada at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Montana, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Indiana, New Hampshire, and New York.
In honor of TEN-4 Day, Face It partners hosted events in September and October that focused on strengthening families. These events engage families in primary child abuse prevention by building the five protective factors: parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need, and social and emotional competence of children.
Thank you to all who participated in TEN-4 Day (and week!) by making child abuse prevention a priority. Together, we can end child abuse in the Commonwealth! Learn more about the TEN-4 FACEp Bruising Rule and how you can stay involved throughout the year.