April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

We all can play a part in building community and hope this month and throughout the year. KVC Nebraska encourages all individuals and organizations to play a role in making Nebraska a better place for children and families. By ensuring that parents have the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to care for their children we can help prevent child abuse and neglect by making meaningful connections with children, youth and families in our communities. Research shows that protective factors are present in healthy families. Promoting protective factors and enhancing parenting skills is among the two most effective ways to reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect.

Protective factors include:

• Nurturing and attachment
• Knowledge of parenting skills and of child and youth development
• Parental resilience
• Social connections
• Concrete supports for parents
• Social and emotional competence of children

April is a time to celebrate the important role that communities play in protecting children and strengthening families. Everyone’s participation is critical. Focusing on ways to connect families is the best thing our community can do to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. If you’d like to help a child or teen visit our foster care page to learn about becoming a foster parent.