United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County works year-round to disrupt the cycle of family violence. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and we encourage you to join us this month in our efforts to reduce child abuse in San Antonio. Unfortunately, San Antonio has the highest rate of confirmed child abuse cases of all major metropolitan cities in Texas. This is even more sobering when you consider how only 1 in 10 children are sexually abused before they turn 18 and often do not report their abuse out of fear.
We work with our Impact Partners to reduce child abuse through respite care services, increasing caregiver knowledge and providing prevention information. We encourage you to promote child abuse prevention awareness in your workplace, family and networks. Reaching as many people as possible is essential so that more families can be more knowledgeable about child abuse prevention practices.
April 7th was Cardboard Kids reveal day, an event that raises awareness about child abuse in San Antonio. A citywide campaign created by ChildSafe, one of our Ready Children and Successful Students Impact Council partners, participants displayed their Cardboard Kids in high visibility locations around town. United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County employees decorated their offices with more than 35 Cardboard Kids and promoted this campaign to partners and social media followers.
What can you do to make a difference? You can educate yourself on keeping children safe through these trainings and then teach others about them. You can also organize people who may want to collaborate with you on advocating for child abuse prevention, implement what you have learned at work and in your personal life and support local child abuse prevention efforts.
We encourage everyone, especially local service providers, to check out the National Child Abuse Prevention Month resource guide to determine how you can help stop child neglect.
We must work together and unite all parts of our community to prevent child abuse. If we can do this, families in our city will have the tools they need to thrive and foster childhood development.
|
Categories: Uncategorized |
