April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This month and throughout the year, Gateway encourages all individuals and organizations to play a role in making Northeast Florida a better place for children and families. By ensuring that parents have the knowledge, skills and resources they need to care for their children, we can help prevent child abuse and neglect by making meaningful connections with children, youth and families in our communities.
Research shows that protective factors are present in healthy families. Promoting these factors is among the most effective ways to reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect. They are:
- Nurturing and attachment
- Knowledge of parenting and of child and youth development
- Parental resilience
- Social connections
- Concrete supports for parents
- Social and emotional competence of children
Gateway is showing its support for our nation’s children by displaying blue pinwheels – the national symbol for the great childhoods all children deserve because our children are our future.
In support of these efforts, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, its Child Welfare Information Gateway, the FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention and over 30 National Prevention Partners have created 2016 Prevention Resource Guide: Building Community, Building Hope. The resource guide, designed for service providers who work throughout the community to strengthen families, is available online at https://childwelfare.com/topics/preventing/preventionmonth/resource-guide/
Throughout the month of April, celebrate the lives you touch and those who have touched yours by honoring them with a pinwheel.
