April is Child Abuse Prevention Month nationally. It’s not a time for case workers to think about preventing child abuse and neglect. They do that every day.
Instead, this is a time for communities to join those social workers and identify ways to address child abuse and neglect. It’s not a small task. We served more than 24,000 children and families last year and answered more than 51,000 hotline calls.
Of course, we always urge people to call hotline number, 241-KIDS, if they know of a child who might not be safe. But in many of our cases, children need protection because their families are vulnerable for a host of reasons, including poverty and addiction.
So let’s take on the ways that contribute to the circumstances where abuse and neglect can fester. We’re asking you to do #OneSmallThing to help support a family:
Offer to babysit a friend’s kids. Volunteer with the Fatherhood Collaborative of Hamilton County to be a mentor to dads. Donate to a food pantry. Do anything that might relieve some stress on a struggling family. Relieving stress, we hope, will help drive these numbers down.
We’ll fill up our social media channels with a new idea every day for #OneSmallThing you might be able to do. We’re looking forward to hearing back about your choices.
Please join us and do #OneSmallThing. It will make a big difference.
