One Way Our Community Can Help Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

Summer is here and children are enjoying their "freedom".  We want to be sure that our children are safe.   Darkness to Light, is a training to end Child Sexual Abuse that will be offered for free to community groups over the next two months until the end of August 2013.

The New Beginnings Exchange Club Downriver would like to partner with community groups to host this free training.  The goal is to train 75 adults in the Downriver area to raise awareness of the harm done by child sexual abuse and encourage adults to create safe communities where every child is safe.  For more details please contact Lacea Zavala lzavala@guidance-center.org or call 734 785 7705 ext. 7291.

Hope Is More Than Just A Feel Good Idea

A study mentioned in a newsletter I read recently noted the higher the stress of a parent, the lower the quality of life. No surprise there.  But significantly, the study found that in the presence of effective program services the effects of parenting stress on the parent-child relationship dissolved.  The negative affect of parenting stress dissipates as appropriate supportive services or resources are offered.  This reduces the potential for child abuse and neglect.

Good services provide hope: a pathway and the emotional energy to go forward.  Hope is not just a feel good concept.  Hope is a combination of a mental strategy or pathway to reach important goals, and the motivation or mental energy to persevere to reach those goals, especially when there are barriers or impediments in the way.  If you can envision a way forward and you have the mental energy to achieve something that is important to you, that is hope. 

Hope is what what we are able to provide when we receive inquiries from parents at our Parent Information Resource Center, and other programs at The Information Center.  We connect parents with emergency food, job training programs, support for adult children taking care of their elderly parents, and literally hundreds of other kinds of problem solving alternatives.

The call to The Information Center is free: (734) 282-7171.

Preventing Child Abuse

Child abuse is a tragedy that can be avoided. We can help by supporting the things that contribute to the healthy development of children, and are actually “protective factors.” Protective factors help parents cope with the challenges of parenting and other parts of life, especially when they are under stress.

Research has shown that these protective factors are linked to a lower incidence of child abuse:

• Nurturing and attachment of child with parent

• Parents’ knowledge of parenting, child and youth development

• Parental resilience

• Social connections

• Concrete (material) supports for parents

• Social and emotional competence of children

Child abuse and neglect can be an unintended consequence of family crisis, a parent’s stresses such as those that are experienced from unemployment, or other personal difficulties such as substance abuse.

Some of the ways that The Information Center and other agencies we work with in this region can help are:

• Connecting parents with food pantries and clothing closets

• Providing referrals that connect people with the right services that can help them

• Providing immediate assistance and support in the event of an eviction or other emergency

• Supporting the family throughout a crisis

• Linking family members to jobs, job training, transportation, and other resources that lead to economic security and self-sufficiency

• Providing access for health care, child care support and other services

• In short, stepping forward to intervene and help when a family problem or emergency is happening.

On the other hand, ignoring the problems and thinking they are just going to go away, is one of the surest ways for problems to compound and grow until they are unmanageable. That is when child abuse is most likely to occur.

For help, call The Information Center's Helpline at (734) 282-7171. Watch this blog for details on the upcoming Strengthening Families Conference on April 20th.