April 2019 Young
Children Newsletter
Good
Morning fellow Kiwanians!
According
to data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), 49
States reported a total of 1,585 fatalities.
Nationally
it is estimated 1,670 children died from abuse or neglect in 2015, which is 5.7
percent more than in 2011. This translates to a rate of 2.25 children per
100,000 children in the general population and an average of nearly
five children dying every day from abuse or neglect
Three-quarters
(74.8 percent) of child fatalities in 2015 involved children younger
than 3 years, and children younger than 1 year accounted for 49.4 percent of
all fatalities.
In
80% of child abuse and neglect cases, the alleged abusers are overwhelmed,
stressed parents who took their frustrations out on their own children; in
other cases child abuse results because some parents were abused as children
and never learned how to be a good parent.
DO YOU KNOW APRIL IS CHILD ABUSE
PREVENTION MONTH?
In
the United States, April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. A Kiwanis club could
assist local events for Child Abuse Prevention Month in a variety of ways:
•
Recognition event. Hold a luncheon, dinner, award ceremony or other
event to publicly thank child protection workers, foster parents, a media
personality or others who have made a significant contribution to preventing
child abuse.
•
Publicity. Send press releases to local radio and television stations.
•
Proclamation. Work with the sponsoring organization to have
government leaders issue
proclamations
supporting Child Abuse Prevention Month.
•
Church events. Contact places of worship and propose that they set aside
a weekend to
celebrate
children and families. Suggest a sermon or discussion on disciplining without
shouting or spanking, reaching out to parents having difficulty with their
children or the importance of positive parenting for physical, emotional and
spiritual good health.
•
Blue ribbon campaign. Urge everyone in the community to wear a blue
ribbon during April, to show that they know child abuse is an important
problem. If appropriate, make the wearing of the blue ribbon a reminder of a
child in the community who died from child abuse during the past year.
•
Kids day. Organize a “Kids for Kids” parade dedicated to children
featuring children.
WHAT CAN KIWANIS CLUBS DO?
•
WORK WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
One
of the best ways for a Kiwanis club to effect change in child abuse situations
is to work with organizations already addressing the problem. In many countries
there is a group dedicated to preventing child abuse through public education,
such as UNICEF and the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and
Neglect. The United States is fortunate to have chapters of Prevent Child Abuse
America in most areas. Using their website, www.preventchildabuse.org, you can find your
local chapter.
• RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS
Most
child abuse prevention organizations have public awareness materials that they
will share with Kiwanis clubs. Rather than starting from scratch, clubs should
seek-out these organizations and ask permission to use printed and video public
service announcements, radio spots or art for fliers and brochures. Some also
offer “op-ed” pieces that can be submitted to newspapers
Below
are two additional websites providing current information on child abuse
information
and
This
information was sent by former Kiwanis International President Wil Blechman,
current Chairman of the Young Children Kiwanis International Committee: "approximately 1500 of these abused children die annually.
Worse, yet, is the torture some of these children undergo prior to death.
Another point to be made is that in the U.S., more than three
million reports are actually called in to the various state investigating
agencies. While less than a million of these are confirmed, there is little
question in the minds of experts in the field that there are likely a
significant number which couldn't be proven but still actually occurred.
Furthermore, what reinforces this as a Kiwanis Young Children issue is the
percentage of child abuse deaths that occur before the age of five.
The information you have provided, as well as that which I've added
suggest how much society pays in the future because of what we don't do to
prevent problems early in life. Money is wasted because we have adults who
can't function normally as a result of childhood abuse and end up in poor
health, unable to learn, in jail or simply in situations where they take from
society in the form of whatever safety nets are available rather than being
able to provide positively to society.”
I
hope your Club will consider doing a project to help prevent Child Abuse. Every
child deserves to be born into a world knowing and expecting warmth, love,
nourishment and security. And isn't this what Kiwanis is all about?
Sincerely,
Ava
Adams, District Chair
Young
Children
New
England and Bermuda District!
