Go Blue Day Anchorage Rally – Photo courtesy of Alaska Children’s Trust
Did you “Go Blue” on Friday, April 6th? If you did, you joined hundreds of Alaskans who wore blue to show their support for National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
April is National Child Abuse Prevention month, a nationwide effort to raise public awareness about and take a stand against child abuse and neglect. It is a time to acknowledge the importance of families and communities who work together to prevent child abuse and neglect, and to promote the social and emotional well being of children and families.
Best Beginnings has once again joined with Alaska Children’s Trust (ACT), the lead organization, and other partners to promote prevention of child abuse and neglect. This year’s theme is “30 Ways to Strengthen Families,” based on the Strengthening Families framework, and the campaign will be primarily on Facebook. Every day in April, ACT will post on Facebook an activity that promotes one of the five protective factors. All told, there will be six activities per protective factor. You can also find the activities here.
You can also download these “Alaska Style” handouts from the Best Beginnings website — each focuses on one of the factors:
Parental Resilience
Social Connections
Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development
Concrete Support in Times of Need
Social & Emotional Competence of Children
Many people and organizations are recognizing the month of April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This provides a great opportunity to promote simple ways that parents and other adults can defuse stress, become more resilient, and teach children to be resilient, too. But let’s not forget about the other 11 months of the year. We should keep in mind that we each can play an important role in promoting the social and emotional well being of children and families in communities all year round.
