The City of Roanoke’s Human/Social Services Department is partnering with Children’s Trust, Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, Total Action for Progress (TAP), Prevent Child Abuse Virginia, and the Virginia Coalition for Child Abuse Prevention to create awareness that April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
This year’s theme, “Building Brighter Childhoods,” promotes the idea that everyone has a role to play in helping to prevent child abuse and neglect in the community and the Commonwealth. Research suggests that many people are already playing a role in preventing child abuse and creating great childhoods in their communities, they just don’t realize it. A study commissioned by Prevent Child Abuse America shows that only 27% of Americans report that they are engaged in prevention. However, that same study showed:
- 80% of Americans reported donating goods, money or time to an organization supporting children and families,
- 70% reported volunteering with children through places of worship, schools, and sports or academic clubs, and
- 56% provided mentorship to a child in their family, neighborhood, or community.
The goal is to educate the public about how they are already helping to prevent child abuse, as well as offer some positive ideas about how we all can help children and families thrive.
You can show your support by:
- Wearing blue on Thursday, April 1, to represent your support of Child Abuse Prevention Month. Post a photo on social media with the hashtag #wearblue.
- Purchase and “plant” a garden of pinwheels, which symbolize child abuse prevention and reflect childhood hope, health and happiness.
For more information on how you can get involved, visit https://www.familiesforwardva.org/child-abuse-prevention-resources
