Child maltreatment—which includes emotional, physical, sexual abuse and neglect—is a serious public health issue. Hundreds of thousands of children are victims each year.
This comes at staggering financial cost as well—not only for victims, but for all of us: a recent CDC study found the total lifetime estimated financial cost associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment is $124 billion.
The agency’s Division of Violence Prevention works to better understand the problem of child maltreatment and to prevent it before it begins.
Their Essentials for Childhood Framework for preventing child maltreatment and related efforts are focused on assuring safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children. The framework’s online resources and tools can help support your prevention efforts during National Child Abuse Prevention Month and throughout the year:
Guides are available that provide implementation methods for two of the framework’s four goals:
- Building Community Commitment for Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments
- Promoting Positive Community Norms
Other helpful resources include:
- How Adverse Childhood Experiences affect our Lives and Society
- Take the I VetoViolence Pledge on Facebook and share a badge on your page that shows your work to prevent child maltreatment
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to help keep all of our children happy, healthy and safe.