Child Abuse Prevention Association

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 1, 2009
NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

When the child next door is maltreated, we all suffer. Every American has a stake in the well-being of our Nation’s children. They are members of our communities, and they are our future. National Child Abuse Prevention Month provides the opportunity to underscore our commitment to preventing and responding appropriately to child abuse. This month, we emphasize the importance of understanding child abuse and the need for all Americans to help families overcome this devastating problem.

The tragedy of child abuse may afflict American children in different ways. Abuse may occur physically, sexually, and emotionally. Child neglect, another form of child maltreatment, may occur physically and emotionally. Understanding the forms of child abuse is critical to preventing and responding to maltreatment.

A well-informed and strong family is the surest defense against child abuse. To help educate and strengthen families, community members can offer their time and counsel to parents and children who may need assistance. For example, parent support groups provide an organized forum for assistance. More informally, community members may simply offer a helping hand to families under stress. More information about what families and communities can do is available at www.childwelfare.gov/preventing.

Civic organizations and government also have an important role to play. Civic groups offer essential support through education, assistance to those at risk, and treatment for victims. Government at the local, State, and Federal level must provide funding for services, conduct public education projects, and enforce child abuse laws.

As we recognize that we all suffer when our children are abused, that we all benefit from mutual concern and care, and that we all have a responsibility to help, more American children will grow up healthy, happy, and with unlimited potential for success.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do more hereby proclaim April 2009, as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. I encourage all citizens to help prevent and respond to child abuse by strengthening families and contributing to all children’s physical, emotional, and developmental needs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

To view directly from the source:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-Marking-National-Child-Abuse-Prevention-Month/

The Child Abuse Prevention Association (CAPA) announces that Kansas City Royals’ Hall-of-Famer Frank White will be its Children’s Champion. White will help CAPA to spread its message about preventing child abuse and child neglect while promoting efforts to bring people together in the Kansas City community to make a difference in the lives of our children.

The kickoff of this partnership will begin during National Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month this April at CAPA’s Annual Meeting Community Change for Children - Keep Kids Safe being held at the Ararat Shrine April 29th @ 8AM.

In the state of Missouri in 2003, child abuse and neglect hotlines received 56,953 calls involving 86,735 children. 44 of these children died as a direct result of child abuse and/or neglect. 22 or 49.8% of the children who died were under the age of 1. Sadly, 61% of the perpetrators of these crimes were the victim’s natural parent. Caretakers of abused children who were relatives—parents, grandparents, and other family members–account for 84% of perpetrators.

Research documented in Kids Count estimates that 30-50 percent of children will experience some form of abuse or neglect during childhood. Jackson County ranks 79th in Missouri in terms of infant mortality, with 8.2 cases per 1,000 births and 75th in child abuse and neglect with 50.8 cases per 1,000 births.

CAPA’s Children Champion, Frank White, was the 1980 Most Valuable Player of the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, leading the Royals to their first World Series appearance. A smooth-fielding 2nd baseman, White was a five-time All-Star. He won the Gold Glove Award eight times, including six consecutive seasons from 1977 to 1982. After his retirement from active play, White went on to coach in the Kansas City organization. More recently, in February 2008, White joined Fox Sports Net Kansas City to serve as color commentator on Royals telecasts, filling in for Paul Splittorff on select games, and as analyst on the channel’s Royals Live post-game show.

White’s Kansas City roots extend back to even before he broke into Major League Baseball. He was once a student at Jackson County’s Longview Community College. Over the years, he has earned well-deserved recognition for taking the lead in a wide range of Kansas City philanthropic efforts.

If you are interested in joining Frank White and CAPA’s Board of Directors for its Annual Meeting or to help in the abuse prevention movement, please call 816-252-8388, ext. 313, or e-mail dcastllo@childabuseprevention.org

Every Child Should be

SAFE!

{especially at Home}

The View of Prevention Advocates on the Alec Baldwin Verbal Abuse Case

As ABC’s daytime television program The View prepares to address the issue of verbal abuse and parents feeling ‘pushed to the edge’ remains a focus of national attention. In the aftermath of Mr. Baldwin’s now-famous voicemail message to his daughter, Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) America wants to ask whether parents are receiving the kinds of help and support they need, while letting all parents know about resources to help them deal with anger and frustration.

“If we view Mr. Baldwin in isolation, we are missing an opportunity to identify changes in the way we can more systematically help parents promote healthy child development,” said PCA America President Jim Hmurovich. “While Mr. Baldwin must be held responsible for his actions, we believe this is a situation that highlights the reality that every parent has, at some point, experienced times of extreme stress, frustration and even anger. Stress can lead to behavior that is unquestionably abusive.”

Emotional abuse – which can involve belittling, criticizing, and ignoring - is child abuse, plain and simple. Even divorced parents need to work together to make sure their children are protected from it. Emotional abuse can happen when a parent is under stress and does not know how to properly manage that stress; children who are emotionally abused may go on to experience depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, if not worse emotional and mental health issues.

“This situation reminds all of us that emotional abuse can happen in families of every race, religion, and socioeconomic status,” continued Hmurovich. “We want the public to ask how each of us can help parents to be the type of parents we really want to be and we would like all parents to know there are steps that can be taken to prevent directing stress toward a child. There are resources – like a national child abuse hotline – that are free and available at any time, day or night.”

PCA America gives the following tips on how parents can manage stress and prevent verbally abusing their children. If you feel you’re about to lose your temper, you can:
• Put Yourself in a Time-Out Chair. Think about why you’re angry – is it your child, or is your child simply a convenient target for your anger?
• Be Aware of What Triggers Your Temper. Just recognizing your ‘temper triggers’ can help you stay calm during such situations and enable you to try to avoid certain circumstances in the first place.
• Phone a Friend.
• Splash Cold Water on Your Face.
• Close Your Eyes and Imagine You’re Hearing What Your Child is About to Hear.
• Take a Deep Breath… and Another. Then Remember: You are the Adult.

Parents who feel overwhelmed and fear losing their temper can, 24 hours a day, call a toll-free child abuse hotline like the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD (www.childhelpusa.org) or

The Covenant House Nineline at 1-800-999-9999 (www.covenenathouse.org).

Other resources for parents:
• Crisis Baby-Sitting. There are local organizations that provide immediate baby-sitting services if parents need to deflect a would-be crisis situation. There are also crisis nurseries and crisis counseling resources.
• Parent Support Programs. Many communities have support groups for new parents, and for parents with children of all ages.

For more tips, and for additional information on services and support resources in your community, go to the Prevent Child Abuse America website at www.preventchildabuse.org.

ABOUT PREVENT CHILD ABUSE AMERICA
Prevent Child Abuse America, founded in Chicago in 1972, is the nation’s leading organization working solely to prevent the abuse and neglect or our nation’s children. Through its chapters in 42 states and its voluntary home visitation services provided by Healthy Families America® in more than 400 communities nationwide, Prevent Child Abuse America helps provide healthy, safe and nurturing experiences for more than 100,000 families every year.

For more information, please visit www.preventchildabuse.org.

Tracy Swartz, News-Leader Feb. 20, 2007
From the News-Leader site

Jefferson City — The state Senate approved measures Monday that would revise requirements for child-abuse investigations.

One bill, sponsored by Sen. Norma Champion, would prevent the children’s division of the state Department of Social Services from closing a child abuse investigation if the child dies. The investigation would remain open until the division completed its review.

Current law requires investigations to be completed within 30 days of an oral report of child abuse or neglect unless there is good cause the review could not be finished.

“We don’t want that past record closed. It looks like you’re trying to hide something and nobody’s trying to hide anything,” said Champion, a Springfield Republican.

Champion pointed to the case of Dominic James, a 2-year-old Springfield foster child who died in 2002. The boy’s foster father was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was convicted of fatal child abuse.

Access to foster care records came under fire after Dominic’s death, which spurred reform in the state’s child-welfare system.

A second Champion initiative would modify the rules for background checks for emergency placement of a child in a private home to comply with FBI regulations.

The legislation would require the criminal background check to be made within 15 calendar days instead of 15 business days, and grandparents also would be subject to the checks.

“I wouldn’t think any grandparent would mind the check if they didn’t have anything to hide,” Champion said.

Champion said child abuse in the Springfield area is “obviously a problem.” The News-Leader explored the topic in a weeklong series that detailed local cases and proposed solutions to curb abuse.

The Senate approved both of Champion’s measures without opposition. They now advance to the House.

Posted on Thu, Jan. 04, 2007

INTERNET
Teens are safe on MySpace, study concludes
Most teenagers were staying safe from predators online, a new study shows. But many continued risky behavior, like posting suggestive pictures of themselves.
BY NOAH BIERMAN
nbierman@MiamiHerald.com

Despite fears that teenagers on the Internet are leaving themselves vulnerable to predators, a new study that examined adolescents’ pages on MySpace.com suggests most teens are behaving responsibly in the type of information they post about their lives.

Authors of the unpublished study say there remain troubling findings, including 5 percent of youths on public MySpace pages posting pictures of themselves in bathing suits or underwear.

But more than 90 percent of the 1,475 teenagers in the study, who left their personal networking pages available for outsiders, did not include their full name in their personal profiles, noted the study co-authored by a South Florida professor. And the researchers found that 40 percent of teenagers in the MySpace study sample were keeping their pages completely off-limits to everyone but their friends, as the site allows.

‘’We just hope that this trend continues,'’ said Sameer Hinduja, a criminology professor at Florida Atlantic University who conducted the study with Justin Patchin of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

The professors have been working together on several studies related to ‘’cyberbullying,'’ taunting and harassing behaviors that have migrated from the school yard to the Internet and cellphones. The latest study examined MySpace, one of the world’s most popular websites, which lets users communicate with each other and post pictures of themselves along with personal musings and sound and video clips. Findings were presented at an academic conference and are now under review by an academic journal.

MySpace prohibits users under 14 and automatically keeps profiles of users under 16 ‘’private,'’ meaning only friends have access. But the authors combed pages randomly and found clues — like friends’ comments about recent birthdays and inconsistencies between listed age and birth date — that suggested some youngsters were lying about their age to break the rules.

MySpace officials did not return a call to their media relations center. But the company has taken public steps in recent months to post warnings and tips on its website to diminish the potential for unwanted attention.

`BEING SMARTER’

‘’We think that the media campaign has worked in the sense that kids are being smarter about what they put online and a lot are leaving their profiles private so that anonymous researchers and pedophiles don’t see it,'’ said Patchin, who set up his own MySpace account a year ago to explore the phenomenon.

Arielle Eisenberg, a 17-year-old from Pinecrest, said she made her profiles for MySpace and Facebook, another social networking site, private soon after opening them — after she received unwanted contact from strangers.

‘’Really weird people, like, [trying] to request to be my friend, and I don’t want to deal with that,'’ said Eisenberg, who uses the sites regularly to keep up with out-of-town friends.

PUBLIC ACCESS

The researchers examined 1,475 teenage MySpace pages, among millions left public:

• More than half of teenagers posted their pictures online and an unspecified number of others provided detailed physical descriptions of themselves. In addition to the 5 percent that posted pictures of themselves in bathing suits or underwear, another 15 percent had suggestive pictures of their friends in their online profiles.

• Only 4 percent of pages listed instant messaging contact information. One percent listed personal e-mail addresses and just a handful of teens listed their phone numbers.

• Though 90 percent of teenagers did not list full names, they left other identifying information, including their first names (40 percent), hometown (81 percent) and high school (28 percent).

MORE PREVENTION

David Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center, has not seen the MySpace study.

But he welcomes more specific strategies to prevent children from getting victimized online and more academic research into what is really going on in cyberspace.