April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

     Jones County Community Partnerships for Protecting Children (CPPC), Family Council, and Prevent Child Abuse Iowa are joining communities across the state this month (April) in celebrating the importance of social connections and working to strengthen social-wellbeing during Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. The theme of the April 2022 Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month is: “Growing a Better Tomorrow for All Children, Together.”

     Throughout CAP Month, Prevent Child Abuse America and Jones County CPPC/Jones County Family Council are using a community garden metaphor to reinforce the message that “Every day, we help families and children thrive.”

     • Children and families are our greatest natural resource. We all have a stake in preparing children to grow up to be healthy and thriving members of our community.

     • The best time to plant seeds of support for all children is now. Every season presents a new opportunity to promote a young person’s physical, emotional, and social development.

     • Each family is unique, but all parents and caregivers need support sometimes. We can all help by ensuring children have positive experiences, and families have the resources they need, when they need them.

     • We proactively call out inequity and injustice and work to create the conditions for safe, stable, and nurturing spaces. All children and families thrive when communities focus on addressing root causes that lead to health and social inequities.

     • Policies and services that put families first strengthen all of us during times of uncertainty or increased stress. Working together, we can relieve some of the overload that parents experience and free them up to focus on caring for themselves and their kids.

     • Adversity is not destiny. Our amazing bodies and brains are ready to respond to positive experiences and reshape our futures, from the inside out.

CAP Month During COVID-19

     This is the third year that CAP Month has taken place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the bullet points below remain the same, we are experiencing a hybrid of virtual and in-person events, families and communities finding opportunities to meet in-person, and continuing to live through the uncertainty of variants.

     • The coronavirus outbreak and its subsequent losses have changed our world permanently. In the United States, we are still adapting and understanding the landscape that the pandemic has created and its repercussions for child abuse and neglect prevention. 

     • The risk to our nation’s children for experiencing child abuse and neglect in times of extreme stress and uncertainty is quite high.

     • COVID-19 has added stressors to the lives of parents and caregivers, such as loss of employment, loss of income due to lack of paid leave, school and business closings that necessitate new child care and homeschool arrangements, and food insecurity.

     • Physical distancing leads to the unintended consequence of isolation. The social connections and community services and activities that serve as protective factors against child abuse and neglect under ordinary conditions may not exist in this extraordinary time of physical distancing.

     • Prevent Child Abuse America, in close partnership with its nationwide chapter network, supports the expansion of evidence-based home visiting programs, such as Healthy Families America, to help families cope with stress and trauma.

     • You can show support for promoting positive childhood experiences and preventing adversity by wearing blue in Jones County on Monday, April 14.

     • You can help plant a pinwheel garden in your community – a visual reminder of the world we want for all children to grow up happy, healthy, and prepared to succeed.

     • You can take action for child abuse prevention year-round by joining our board and helping strengthen community relations. You have the power to help every child you interact with each day! Be the ONE!