In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month in April, the Greater Bay Area Child Abuse Prevention Council Coalition members have joined to increase awareness about child and family well-being, and work together to implement effective strategies that support and strengthen families, and prevent child abuse and neglect.
Child abuse and neglect is a persistent and pervasive problem throughout the Bay Area. It impacts all of our children, families, communities, and society at large. In 2021, the Bay Area had 56,278 reported survivors of abuse, with 4,322 reports verified by the system. That’s one child with abuse reported every 9.3 minutes.
Child abuse and neglect not only morally degrades our society, it significantly hurts our economy. In fact, the physical, mental, and emotional effects persist long after child maltreatment occurs and result in ongoing costs to every sector of the Bay Area. The estimated cumulative financial impact on the Bay Area for the 4,322 verified child survivors is $2,260,000,000.
The good news is that child abuse and neglect is preventable. We all have a role to play in building safe, stable, nurturing homes and creating conditions in communities where all children and families can thrive. For that, we must understand and address the factors that put people at risk or protect them.
To raise greater awareness, Greater Bay Area Child Abuse Prevention Council Coalition members created an activity calendar so that family and community partners can register and engage throughout the region. Help us protect children and families by educating yourself and sharing what you learn with others. Wear a blue ribbon or plant pinwheels in your yard to show your commitment to keeping children safe. Together we can make it easier for families to access support services and learn how to identify and build on family strengths.
Use your social media to do good! Post selfies at scavenger hunt locations using #GoBlueForKidsNapa for a chance to win prizes while you raise awareness about child abuse prevention!
Get outside while raising awareness about our Child Abuse Prevention Campaign. Visit and take a selfie AT any of the Blue Ribbon Businesses, then post it using #GoBlueForKidsNapa. Every photo counts as an entry to win weekly prizes throughout April and a special prize at the end of the month.
GO BLUE with us! CAPC of Solano will have a special presentation at our May meeting highlighting countywide efforts to increase child abuse prevention awareness in Solano County. We want to high- light your agency’s efforts to increase prevention and awareness. Share with us pictures of your child abuse prevention activities and events during the month of April to be included in this special presentation.
Sending thank-you and self-care letter.
News and events to highlight CAPC month through our social medai platforms
Solano County Board of Supervisors recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Proclamation will be issued; CAPC will report to Board
Executive Director report to the Board of Supervisors and Blue Ribbon Month proclamation.
Dr. Shandi Fuller will describe the impact of generational trauma on our communities, and recommend ways to connect and support children and families who are working through trauma.
While trauma researchers have made great strides in understanding and treating single-episode present-life trauma, we are just beginning to explore the impact of generational trauma and its expression. In this presentation, Dr. Shandi Fuller will describe the impact of the transatlantic slave trade and systemic racism, and recommend ways to connect and support children and families who are working through trauma. Dr. Fuller is Deputy Health Officer/Maternal Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Medical Director in Solano County and a consultant on equity and trauma-informed practices.
Come celebrate Earth Day with Safe & Sound and the Junior League of San Francisco!
Children have a chance to be cultivate their green thumbs with real farmers at the Florence Fang Community Farm.
Sign up by emailing info@safeandsound.org with your name, email, number and age of children, and language preference.
Follow-up email with address to be sent a few days prior to the event. Space is limited so sign up today!
Learn the basics of mandated reporting (what, when, why, how); understand each type of abuse, its legal definitions and indicators; learn frameworks that can help inform your suspicions; understand what happens after a report is made; learn to consider how culture and bias plays a role in reporting; and learn how to respond to disclosures of abuse.
Join us for an important training with Dr. Katie Pedgrift and Amy Machado that will explore how we can support people with developmental disabilities to build healthy and meaningful relationships, while also providing them with information about sexual abuse and coercion. The speakers will discuss resources that are available for providers, schools, and parents to support them to directly teach people with developmental disabilities about safe relationship development, sexual health, and how to decrease risk factors associated with sexual abuse.
This will be a presentation in English with simultaneous interpretation in Spanish.
“Here Comes the Sun”
Auxiliary for the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County (ACAPC)
15th Annual Benefit Luncheon & Silent Auction
Jane Smithson to speak to and answer questions from the Crime Prevention Committee
Join us for an important training with Dr. Sharon Washington that will explore the unconscious bias & unintended racism that exists when working with children and families. This training will discuss racial/ethnic inequities, historical trauma, racial trauma, racial socialization, whiteness, structural racism, and provides learners tools and strategies to increase allyship and accompliceship.
Learn the basics of mandated reporting (what, when, why, how); understand each type of abuse, its legal definitions and indicators; learn frameworks that can help inform your suspicions; understand what happens after a report is made; learn to consider how culture and bias plays a role in reporting; and learn how to respond to disclosures of abuse.
John Woodrow Cox, Washington Post reporter and author of the award-winning Children Under Fire, An American Crisis, will speak about the effects of gun violence on children, and how communities can work to strengthen their resiliency. Mr. Cox is also writing a series of forthcoming articles for the Washington Post on children who have lost a parent to gun violence.
A Conversation With Mary Ritter – a life in the service of children. Mary who has been conducting sexual assault forensic examinations on children for decades will reflect on her life’s work, and how to sustain a career in the service of abused children. Mary will provide her insights on how she built her own resiliency, and finds meaning in her work.
Children’s Memorial Day concludes the April’s Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month Activities by honoring children who have lost their lives as a result of child abuse and neglect.
Where faith communities come together and take a stand against child abuse
To remember the millions of children who are victims of abuse/neglect, Blue Sunday Child Abuse Prevention is asking the faith community to pray on Sunday, April 24, 2022.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. It began when a report about abused and neglected children caught the attention of President Ronald Reagan in 1983. Sadly, since that first Child Abuse Prevention Month, the number of abused victims has grown from half a million children to over six million new reports of abuse along with 1600 child abuse related deaths annually. One is too many.
Find out more at www.bluesunday.org
Katherine Lucero, New Director of the New State Office of Youth and Community Restoration, will speak about the new agency she is leading, the work to help justice involved youth, so many of whom are themselves survivors of abuse and neglect, and the resiliency they have and need.
Panel Discussion On the Challenges Schools and Children in School Face During this Ongoing Pandemic
A virtual Lunch & Learn entitled the “Facts and Faces of Prevention” to expand our understanding of what is considered abuse and neglect and the role of prevention strategies.
Presentation of proclamation to SF Human Services Commission to declare April, Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Support local businesses and child abuse prevention at the same time. Local businesses are taking a stand to make child abuse prevention a priority in our community. Join them by dining, shopping and sipping with them all through April.
Join the Walk With Me Walk-A-Thon to help prevent child abuse and neglect! Every mile you walk (or run, hike, bike, etc.) will honor the victims of child abuse in our community and every dollar you raise will immediately be put to use protecting vulnerable children in our community.
Join us at this FREE family fun event where there will be many resources for parents and families, activities and games for children, entertainment, food and so much more. Get ready for a day of fun, festivity and family!
Grab something BLUE and wear it on April 7 to bring awareness to child abuse and to support prevention efforts in Alameda County. Post on your favorite social media and #wearblue4kids!
Mandated Reporter Trainings with providers
Over the course of a year, leaders from across the country came together for the Aspen Two-Generation Prenatal to Three Learning and Action Community (2GP3 LAC). Today, you will hear key findings from their work and explore lessons for truly centering prevention and upstream solutions in systems of care for families.
After a thorough discussion of the real-world impacts of moving from mandated reporting to community supporting, explore the data and disproportionality outcomes associated with mandated reporting.
Strong Families Alliance encourages Alameda County families to grab some chalk, head outside and create art and messages for child abuse prevention month.
Connecting with your children through play is a wonderful way to show them care and security. Grab some sidewalk chalk and draw, write, and play! Snap pictures and tag the Strong Families Alliance of Alameda County across your social media accounts!
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
This session brings an exciting opportunity to engage with local county child welfare and other child- and family-serving professionals who are implementing innovative practices to support families, reduce referrals to Child Welfare, and prevent entries into foster care.
The Auxiliary for the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County (ACAPC) invites you to join us for “Tea with CAPC”; our 16th Annual Silent Auction and Luncheon to benefit the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County (CAPC). Join us in helping protect the bright futures of so many children in Contra Costa County!
The Office of Child Abuse Prevention, in collaboration with the Child Abuse Prevention Center of Sacramento and Casey Family Programs, brings an opportunity to further explore the paradigm shift from mandated reporting to community supporting as a model for being responsive to the needs of children, families, communities, and Tribes. An overview from Safe and Sound of the issue brief “Creating a Child & Family Well-Being System: A Paradigm Shift from Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting”.
Four 90 minute workshops: Prevention Lessons – Strengthening Children, Families, and Communities; Medical Intervention, Current & Future; Child Welfare; Criminal Enforcement
This webinar will discuss new trauma-informed practice for reporting on family strengths when making child abuse reports. The training will benefit those who provide direct services to children and families.
A virtual Lunch & Learn titled Focusing Upstream: The Role of Communities in Keeping Families Together will present compelling data, share lived experience and engage in a dialogue of how to create communities that strengthen families so they can strive together.
Four 90 minute workshops: Prevention Lessons – Strengthening Children, Families, and Communities; Medical Intervention, Current & Future; Child Welfare; Criminal Enforcement
Reading! Hula! Art! Food! FREE and in-person Family Story Time on 4/28/23, 3:30-4:30pm at Oakland Public Library’s main branch (125 14th St. Oakland). Open to parents/caregivers and their children.
