Prevention
Our collective future depends on the ability of young children to achieve their potential. Preventing, identifying, and responding to early adversity is one of the most impactful things we can do to improve our nation’s health and wellbeing.
Kids raised in safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments are more likely to enjoy good physical and mental health and succeed academically and socially. Children who grow up happy and healthy also go on to contribute to economic prosperity for everyone.
Child abuse and neglect prevention is possible.
Prevention is generally recognized as occurring at three levels. Our approach to prevention encompasses all three; which results in a comprehensive service framework focused on improving outcomes for children and families.
Keep all children safe & strengthen families, by raising the awareness of the general public, service providers, faith communities and decision-makers about the scope and problems associated with child maltreatment, as well as better equipping them to prevent and respond to it.
The general population to strengthen communities
- Public awareness campaigns that provide information on how and where to report suspected child abuse and neglect
- Public service announcements that encourage positive parenting
- Partnering with organizations like ZAP, to offer free training opportunities
- Sharing requests/personal stories of struggling families to raise awareness of the scope of the problem and hominify the impact
- Partnering with churches to prevent child abuse in faith communities
Create a community system of care that can address and minimize harm; and prevent abuse or neglect before it occurs and before it requires further CP/WS involvement, by providing targeted supports that strengthen families that have been identified as at-risk for potential child maltreatment.
Children, foster youth & families that have one or more risk factors associated with child maltreatment, such as poverty, parental substance abuse, young parental age, parental mental health concerns, and parental or child disabilities
Work with our committed network of donors, to crowdfund critical goods and services that are identified by partnered County Social Worker’s (in cooperation with the families receiving relief) as playing an essential role in an overall plan to achieve family reunification, prevent separation, avoid subsequent maltreatment, and/or facilitate child and family healing. These resources focus on building protective factors and reducing sources of toxic stress including:
- Establishing housing stability
- Assuring access to basic needs
- Improving economic stability
- Reducing poverty
- Improving health access
- Strengthening learning opportunities
- Increasing social connections to community services and resources
- Improving quality of life and well-being
Mitigate child and family trauma, reduce the negative consequences of the maltreatment, prevent recurrence, and work to help the family build on their strengths to remain safely together.
Families where maltreatment has already occurred
Families are more likely to stay intact and to be able to effectively heal after maltreatment if the community plays a supportive role. In addition to the critical resources mentioned above, we work to assure access to appropriate trauma-informed mental health services for children and families affected by maltreatment to improve family communication and functioning.