April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month highlights importance of ‘Building A Hopeful Future, Together’

April is National Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month, a time when Prevent Child Abuse America and Prevent Child Abuse Georgia connect with families, communities, prevention advocates and supporters to focus on the creation of an ecosystem of primary prevention in the U.S. and emphasize the importance of building a narrative of hope for the future of children and families. The theme of this year’s awareness and impact campaign, locally led by Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, which is housed in the Georgia State University School of Public Health, in alignment with PCA America’s national chapter network, is “Building A Hopeful Future, Together.”

Children who live in families with access to economic and concrete support are less likely to experience abuse and neglect. And yet, too often our society thinks of raising healthy children as a parent or caregiver’s responsibility alone. This simply isn’t true. Community support and partnerships can help lighten the burden on families and strengthen communities from the ground up.

“Every family and child should have the access and support to live purposeful lives with hope for the future,” said PCA Georgia Executive Director Jennifer Stein. “In April, during CAP Month, we recognize the dedicated and passionate prevention teams, programs and partners working year-round to create awareness about the public health issue of abuse and neglect. Every day, a connected network of prevention leaders, lived-experience experts and a host of partners in prevention link arms to build evidence that supports advocacy for family-strengthening policies that can help lift the load for overburdened families.

“The work of love is never done,” Stein added. “And our work is rooted in both aspiration and evidence to provide help and hope before a crisis occurs. We hope that this month, our community will join us in applauding the progress we’ve made in prevention, but also become partners in the remaining critical work that families of Georgia need.

Prevent Child Abuse America, in close partnership with its nationwide chapter network including PCA Georgia, supports the expansion of evidence-based home visiting programs and family resource centers to help families cope with trauma and stressors like the loss of employment, loss of income due to lack of paid leave, school and business closings, ongoing health concerns, uncertain childcare and homeschool arrangements, food insecurity and more.

Today’s family resource centers (FRCs) are a key prevention strategy for addressing many of the challenges that face families, whether they live in rural, suburban or urban areas. The goal of FRCs is healthy families in healthy communities. To improve outcomes for both families and communities, a family resource center brings together services and activities that educate, develop skills and promote moving in new directions for families. This increases the capacity of families to be healthy, involved members of dynamic communities.

“During this year’s CAP Month, we are on a mission to change the way our society values and cares for our children and families to address the structural and social determinants of health and wellbeing, including poverty and systemic racism,” said President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America Melissa Merrick. “In partnership, we can disrupt long-held beliefs about prevention systems and expand family-friendly policies, like paid sick and family leave, to help reduce stress on our parents and caregivers. Prevention is hard work, but it is also heart work.”

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This month, and all year long, you can help PCA Georgia advance family-centered prevention programs and policies by taking action in the following ways:

You can show support for promoting positive childhood experiences and preventing adversity by wearing blue on April for #WearBlueDay to kick off CAP Month with momentum. Post a photo or video on social media and include the #WearBlueDay2024 hashtag.

Follow PCA Georgia on social media and share our posts throughout April. Encourage friends and family to do the same. Use the hashtags #BuildingTogether, #PreventionInPartnership, and #CAPMonth to signify your commitment to helping children, families, and entire communities to thrive.

Plant a virtual pinwheel – a visual reminder of the world we want for all children to grow up happy, healthy and prepared to succeed. You can contribute to your local chapter with this effort. All donations are tax-deductible, and funds go directly to your local state chapter to support local children and families.

Throughout the month, you can make a tax-deductible gift to PCA Georgia by visiting tinyurl.com/pcagive. For more ways to get involved in CAP Month this April, please visit tinyurl.com/CAPmonthGA.

About Prevent Child Abuse Georgia

As the state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, PCA Georgia provides statewide direction to build safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments to prevent child abuse and neglect and has 35 local councils located throughout the state that advocate and implement prevention practices in their communities. PCA Georgia is applying an intentional equity and racial justice lens to our work. A child’s race, ethnicity, gender, family income or neighborhood should not predict their future success and well-being. Visit pcageorgia.org to learn more.