April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month Kicks Off
Local nonprofit, The Parenting Place, recognizes the importance of community-based support for all children and families during National Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month in April. The theme of this year’s awareness and impact campaign is “Growing a Better Tomorrow for All Children, Together.”
We all have a role to play in healthy child development and the prevention of child abuse. People like coaches, teachers, babysitters and health care professionals work with children every day and are already working to move our country toward being a greater place for children. But even if you don’t work with or around children, you still can have a positive impact on their development.
As we observe Child Abuse Prevention Month this April, Marilyn Thorn, Executive Director of The Parenting Place, said “we want to encourage everyone who lives in Montana to commit to take one simple step to improve the lives of children and families throughout our state.”
Here’s some simple steps to take:
Wear blue on Thursday, April 1, Wear Blue Day, to show support for children and families. Post a photo or video on social media and include the #WearBlueDay2021 hashtag.
Use the hashtags #GrowingBetterTogether and #CAPMonth to signify your commitment to helping children, families, and entire communities to thrive.
Make a tax-deductible donation and help build a virtual pinwheel garden.
Purchase pinwheels to decorate or hand out to children at your home, business or organization! Pinwheels available at Donation Warehouse!
Actions like these help bring communities together, reduce isolation and help children and families succeed. If we all pledge to do each of these activities at least once during the month of April, we can make a real difference. If we continue to take steps like these throughout the year and in the future. We can build healthier, safer, and thriving communities if we take the same approach to raising families that we do to tending a community garden on a shared piece of land. Too often, our society thinks of raising healthy children as a parent or caregiver’s responsibility alone. In reality, we all benefit when groups of people work together to collectively care for children, who grow up to become successful, contributing adults.
“Research shows that positive childhood experiences in nurturing environments provide fertile ground for physical and mental health, learning, and social skills,” explained Dr. Melissa Merrick, president and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America. “By preventing child abuse and neglect we aim to holistically improve the lives of all families and the communities they live in.”
This is the second year that CAP Month has taken place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus outbreak and its subsequent losses have changed the world permanently, and prevention professionals are still working to understand the pandemic’s repercussions for incidents of child abuse and neglect.
The risk to our nation’s children for experiencing child abuse and neglect in times of extreme stress and uncertainty is quite high. COVID-19 has added stressors to the lives of parents and caregivers, such as loss of employment, loss of income due to lack of paid leave, school and business closings that necessitate new childcare and homeschool arrangements, and food insecurity. The social connections and community services and activities that serve as protective factors against child abuse and neglect may not exist in this extraordinary time of physical distancing.
The Parenting Place
Our Mission
The Parenting Place is a community-based, non-profit organization whose mission is the prevention of child abuse and neglect through strengthening families. Our goals are to help families develop healthy parent-child relationships, to improve the futures of our children and ensure healthy families.
History
The Parenting Place has a history of providing child abuse prevention services to families in Missoula and throughout Missoula County since 1981. We are a community-based, non-profit organization whose mission is the prevention of child abuse and neglect through strengthening families. Our goals are to help families develop healthy parent-child relationships, to improve the futures of our children and ensure healthy families. The Parenting Place continues to be the only agency in Missoula whose sole mission is the prevention of child abuse and neglect, collaborating with other family strengthening organizations whenever possible. We are at the forefront of best practices and continually strive to provide premium services to at-risk families. We also work diligently to avoid duplication of services with other agencies serving families and children in our community by collaborating with other family strengthening organizations.
The Parenting Place serves children in families where there is risk of abuse and neglect. Predominantly, these families are also very low income. Criteria used to assess families at risk include the following: Parents have a childhood history of abuse and neglect; Families lack support systems; Families are experiencing life crises; Parents are not aware of nurturing child rearing practices; Families are socially isolated. Our target audience is at-risk families, however, The Parenting Place services are open to all parents and children who are in need of support and education.