San Antonio Parenting Education Program Seeks to End the Cycle of Abuse

SAN ANTONIO—Through its Precious Minds, New Connections program, Baptist Child & Family Services is trying to break the cycle of child abuse by offering specialized parent-training courses.

According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, the number of confirmed victims of child abuse in Bexar County was 5,755 in 2006—and most abusers reportedly were parents or caregivers.

The Precious Minds, New Connections program is an annual $3.6 million initiative funded by the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. It is carried out through annual grants to 26 organizations in the foundation’s four-county service area, which includes Bandera, Bexar, Comal and Kendall counties. The Baptist Child & Family Services program is the largest in both size and reach.

Fili Garcia

“Parenting education enables parents to understand early childhood development and develop realistic expectations for child behavior,” according to the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. “All of this knowledge is known to lead to less likelihood that a child will be abused and his or her development neglected.”

For more information on the article, visit: http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=7462

Comments

[Geoff Brown]

Parent training is a key strategy for preventing child abuse. But once abuse happens, we need to detect it and stop it. Teachers are on the front lines of this battle. They are often the first to notice possible signs of child abuse, yet they're often confused about how to talk to a student about abuse. A new role-playing course lets teachers rehearse a conversation with a possible child abuse victim. There's a free trial version (120+ pages) and a CEU-credit version. Tell your child's teachers about this course. It might help them save a child's life someday. (To reach the course, click my name below.)