April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and I felt that I would take this opportunity to provide readers with resources and information related to this very important topic. Child abuse affects hundreds of thousands of children and families each year. Children can experience abuse physically, sexually or emotionally. Children may also experience abuse through the neglect of their basic needs. Child abuse and neglect can have long-term effects on an individual’s physical, psychological and behavioral health. While this information may be difficult to read and unsettling to think about, child abuse and neglect can be prevented. Prevention is the key to reducing and stopping childhood abuse and neglect. Understanding the factors that place families at risk for abuse can help all of us who work with children and families to be better able to support their health, resilience and success. Research has shown that promoting protective factors in families can help to reduce the risk of childhood abuse and neglect. These protective factors, and other resources for the prevention of child abuse, are discussed in detail in a wonderful resource guide that is published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Child Welfare Information Gateway: http://www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/res_guide_2009/.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway also has additional resources for parents and teachers, in English and Spanish, on their Child Abuse Prevention Month website: http://www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/preventionmonth/.