Child Abuse Prevention Month
Child Abuse Prevention Month is right around the corner. The Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, the “Children’s Trust Fund”, encourages grantees to expend additional effort to raise awareness of child abuse prevention during the month April. We have included a copy of the 2018 Child Abuse Prevention Month Toolkit (https://ctf.alabama.gov/event/april/) to assist in planning for the month. Click here to access it.
Even though the month of April is ceremoniously emphasized to raise awareness, it is important to remember that this is a year-round effort. To celebrate your constant commitment to protect Alabama’s children, please plan to join us on April 6, 2018 in Montgomery at what time? for our annual planting of the pinwheel garden.
Thinking ahead for April activities, we are very excited to offer copies of the Resilience movie. If you’re not familiar with this movie, you can learn more and watch a preview here. Our agency recently purchased the rights to provide showings of the film throughout the state. Anyone interested in showing the film in their community can contact Bailey McKell Waller at bailey.waller@copperwingd1.sg-host.com to get more information on hosting a Resilience showing. This will be an excellent event to plan in April but can be done throughout the year.
The work we do as an agency and network of community providers has never been more important. The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2018) recently estimated 22% of all children have experienced 2 or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in their lifetime. In Alabama, we see an increase to 28% of surveyed children have 2 or more ACEs. In general, states in the South and Southwest exceed the national average. Poverty, household substance abuse, divorce, and household mental illness remain four of the most common ACEs among Alabama’s children (Sacks, Murphey, & Moore, 2014).
We look forward to hearing about your wonderful events and how you have implemented strategies to combat child abuse and neglect and build more resilient communities.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2018, February 10). More than one in five U.S. kids has had multiple adverse experiences. Retrieved from http://datacenter.kidscount.org/updates/show/188-more-than-one-in-five-us-kids-has-had-multiple-adverse-experiences
Kann L, McManus T, Harris WA, et al. (2016). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2015. MMWR Surveill Summ. 65(No. SS-6):1–174. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6506a1
Sacks, V., Murphey, D., & Moore, K. (2014, July). Adverse childhood experiences: National and state=level prevalence. Child Trends. Retrieved from https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Brief-adverse-childhood-experiences_FINAL.pdf