Since 1983, April has been designed National Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month
The program, coordinated by the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, part of the Children's Bureau of Administration for Children and Families in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is designed to increase awareness about child abuse and neglect, as well as helping to strengthen families, improve parenting and spurring community support for strong and healthy families.
We are all responsible for doing our part to help prevent child abuse and for reporting cases where child abuse is suspected. But that can be hard to do if we don't know what to look for.
The Child Welfare Information Gateway offers tips on how to recognize the signs of possible child abuse. Understand that these signs do not prove the existence of abuse, but they are things to look out for. The list below is taken from the childwelfare.gov website.
Some things to look for in children:
Shows sudden changes in behavior or school performance
Has not received help for physical or medical problems brought to the parents' attention
Has learning problems (or difficulty concentrating) that cannot be attributed to specific physical or psychological causes
Is always watchful, as though preparing for something bad to happen
Lacks adult supervision
Is overly compliant, passive, or withdrawn
Comes to school or other activities early, stays late, and does not want to go home
Some things to look for in parents:
Shows little concern for the child
Denies the existence of--or blames the child for--the child's problems in school or at home
Asks teachers or other caregivers to use harsh physical discipline if the child misbehaves
Sees the child as entirely bad, worthless, or burdensome
Demands a level of physical or academic performance the child cannot achieve
Looks primarily to the child for care, attention, and satisfaction of emotional needs
The childwelfare.gov site also offers valuable resources for parents, teachers and others on how to prevent child abuse before it starts.
Child abuse is a national tragedy. Hopefully, all of us will take this month to remember that and to evaluate what role we can play in helping our nation's youngest and most vulnerable citizens grow up safe from harm.