Prevent Child Abuse New York's Blog

New Report Estimates the Cost of Child Abuse at $80 Billion a Year

Child abuse and neglect will cost our nation over $80 billion in 2012, according to an economic impact analysis released today by Prevent Child Abuse America. The report, Estimated Annual Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect, assesses a number of factors. Direct costs, which include hospitalization, mental health costs, costs incurred by the child welfare system, and law enforcement, total $33 billion. Indirect costs, including special education, early intervention, adult homelessness, mental health and health care, juvenile and adult criminal justice costs, and lost work productivity, total nearly $47 billion.  

Based on this analysis, New York will spend an estimated $5,264,534,000 to address the consequences of child abuse and neglect. This confirms what professionals in the field have long known: There's a tremendous imbalance between what we spend on preventing child abuse from happening and intervening in and treating child abuse after it already occurs. New York State, for example, spends $23.3 million on Healthy Families New York and $2.5 million on Nurse Family Partnership, two early childhood home visiting programs proven to reduce abuse and improve outcomes for at-risk kids.

We should not diminish the importance of intervening in abusive situations and treating victims, but we must also recognize the trauma of abuse can not be erased. Abuse and neglect account for many grievous social ills. Victims are more likely to experience chronic health problems, mental health issues, developmental delays, poor educational outcomes, and involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

We need to prioritize children not only in our policies and budgets, but in our everyday actions," said James M. Hmurovich, President & CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America. "Wouldn’t it make sense to develop a strategy that focuses on a national commitment to actually prevent child abuse and neglect before it ever occurred? If we could decrease these annual costs by 10% in the next 5 years, think of the great things we could do for children and their families. For example, $7.7 million provides 78,000 home visits to 2000-3000 expectant and new parents at risk of abusing or neglecting their child. Ultimately, this benefits not just families, but society as a whole.”

Scared Sick Lecture and Book-signing with Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith Wiley, April 2 in Albany

Toxic: extremely harsh, malicious, or harmful. Stress: a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.

Toxic stress is a regular companion for children living in families where abuse, neglect, and dysfunction are part of everyday life.  The impact on children and on our communities is profound and far-reaching.

No one explains better than Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith Wiley how toxic stress triggers problems that have created a major public health crisis - the research, the risks, and the results. Highlighting case studies and cutting-edge scientific findings, the authors show how our innate fight-or-flight system can injure us if overworked in the early stages of life, triggering diabetes, heart disease, obesity, depression, and addiction later in life.

The co-authors of Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence and Scared Sick: The Role of Childhood Trauma in Adult Disease, will speak Monday, April 2, 2012 at 2 p.m. at the School of Social Welfare, University at Albany Page Hall.

Presented by Prevent Child Abuse New York and the University at Albany School of Social Welfare, the event is free and open to the public.

For more information or to register, e-mail Brittani Hanson, bhanson@preventchildabuseny.org.

You may view a video trailer about the book Scared Sick at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLF1jfWbj64

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Robin Karr-Morse is family therapist and a veteran of child welfare and public education systems in Oregon. Formerly the Director of Parent Training for the state child welfare system, she was the first executive director of the Oregon Children's Trust Fund, a consultant to Dr. T. Berry Brazelton's Touchpoints Program and a lecturer on the Brazelton Seminar Faculty. She has worked with county, state and national officials across the country to create social policies which support families in children’s earliest development. Currently, she is working with a group of colleagues to build “The Parenting Institute” to provide parents with state of the art developmental knowledge, skills and support which focuses on building emotionally competent children from conception through adolescence.

Meredith Wiley is a former prosecutor and currently state director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York, a crime fighting organization of law enforcement leaders and victims of violence who work to educate policy makers and the public on what works to get kids off to a good start in life and keep them from ever becoming criminals. Meredith is a former prosecutor.  She has been appointed to the New York State Children’s Cabinet Advisory Council, the Early Childhood Advisory Council, the Governor’s Task Force to Transform Juvenile Justice and the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, and also is on the National Board of Advisors for the Nurse Family Partnership Program and the National Board of Advisors for the Parent Child Home Program.

This Father's Day Be a Dad

National Fatherhood Initiative has launched a new campaign, Be a Dad, to inspire dads to be involved in their children's lives.

The campaign includes many practical tips that can help fathers be the dads their kids need them to be. Tips include: Respect Your Child's Mother, Spend Time with Your Children, Earn the Right to be Heard, and Disciline with Love.

This terrific PSA is also part of the campaign.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Enjoy your special day with your kids.

Violence Prevention Opportunity

Violence is a serious public health problem that affects people of all ages. Each year, more than 53,000 people lose their lives to violence, but this number doesn’t tell the whole story. Violence also destroys communities by reducing productivity, decreasing property values, and disrupting social services.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is determined to curb the effects of this problem. One way they are doing this is by providing a free online course that’s available 24/7 titled Principles of Prevention. The course teaches key concepts of prevention, the public health approach, and the social-ecological model. Through interactive exercises, participants learn how to help prevent five types of violence:

• Child abuse and neglect
• Intimate partner violence
• Sexual violence
• Suicide
• Youth violence

Principles of Prevention is designed for those interested in preventing violence from happening in the first place. It helps participants become a part of the solution by teaching the fundamentals of effective violence prevention methods. The course includes:

• Interviews with leading experts in the field
• Dynamic graphics
• Interactive exercises
• Compelling storytelling that makes the case for violence prevention

Five Ways to Well-being

Evidence suggests that a small improvement in well-being can help to decrease some mental health problems and also help people to flourish in many aspects of their lives.

The center for well-being at UK-based NEF (the New Economics Foundation) reviewed the inter-disciplinary work of over 400 scientists from across the world in order to develop “Five ways to well-being” a set of evidence-based actions to improve personal well-being.

• Connect…Connect with the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstone of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you everyday.
• Be active…Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercise. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and one that suits your level of mobility and fitness.
• Take notice…Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savor the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.
• Keep learning…Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favorite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.
• Give…Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

Get Involved in National Child Abuse Prevention Month

April is national Child Abuse Prevention month—there's still time to get involved. You can be apart of raising awareness about child abuse and neglect and be a part of building stronger communities. Supporting children and parents to help prevent child abuse can be done throughout the year. The 2011 National Child Abuse Prevention Month website is a great source of information and strategies you can use to engage your community and support families. The site features:

• Strengthening Families and Communities: 2011 Resource Guide, a guide to help service providers strengthen families by promoting key protective factors that prevent abuse.
• Tip sheets to distribute to parents and caregivers to address a particular parenting concern or question. Each tip sheet is available in English and Spanish.
• An activities calendar using the Five Protective Factors. The calendar provides child welfare professionals with activities they can do with families throughout the month that support children and families.
• Prevention Month widgets to post on your website.
• A video explaining how Child Welfare Information Gateway helps connect professionals with information and resources on preventing child abuse and neglect.

Pinwheels for Prevention

Pinwheels for Prevention is a nationwide public awareness campaign, created by Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) and its state chapters. The campaign is built around the symbol of the pinwheel, a happy and uplifting token of childhood. They represent our efforts to change the way our nation thinks about prevention. The goal of Pinwheels for Prevention is to use this symbol to engage people in taking action to prevent abuse and neglect from happening in the first place.

To join this movement an individual can:

• Write to your elected officials about the importance of preventing child abuse and neglect.
• Buy pinwheels and plant your own pinwheel garden.
• Talk about prevention in your community.
• Organize a fundraiser to raise awareness.
• Serve on a committee or board.

A local organization can:

• Organize your own Pinwheels for Prevention campaign by buying pinwheels and planting a garden.
• Join Child Abuse Prevention Month activities in April or organize activities in your community
• Incorporate child abuse prevention into your work.
• Discuss child abuse prevention at your conferences and meetings

A corporation can:

• Sell pinwheels or other special pinwheel-themed items in your stores.
• Print messages on your bags or insert bill-stuffers to bring attention to child abuse prevention.
• Invite your employees to show their support by purchasing and displaying pinwheels.
• Create a pinwheel garden on your company's premises.
• Contribute your company's expertise to help us advance this campaign.
• Donate or help buy advertising, or sponsor pinwheel activities, to get the word out.

For more information on how to participate visit our website.

NYS Child Abuse Prevention Conference 2011

Prevent Child Abuse New York is pleased to once again present the New York State Child Abuse Prevention Conference on April 11-13th at the Marriott Hotel in Albany, NY. The conference seeks to expand participants' skills and practice to strengthen families, promote optimal child development, and improve outcomes for children and families.

Participants will be provided with the quality programming this conference is famous for—nationally known keynote speakers and highly rated workshops—along with some new offerings. This year's plenary sessions will be presented by:

Deborah Daro, Ph.D. (Research Fellow, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago)

Preventing Child Abuse: Learning from the Past to Build for the Future, Monday, April 11

Jodi Pfarr (aha! Process Consultant, Bridges out of Poverty)

A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Tuesday, April 12

Milton Creagh (Motivational Speaker, Television Personality, Author, Father)

Voices from the Heart, Wednesday, April 13

In response to participant feedback, we're presenting several intensive institutes that facilitate more in-depth learning. The conference includes more than 40 training and skills-building workshops and in-depth institutes presented by renowned experts in the areas of:

Parent/Caregiver Education and Support

Effective Prevention Strategies

Skills for Direct Services Provision

Collaboration and Implementation within and across Systems

Not-for-Profit Management and Leadership

Exhibit space for commercial and not-for-profit vendors is available at the conference. More information can be found in the exhibitor's packet on our website. The deadline for applications and payment is March 4, 2011.

We're looking forward to the best conference yet—one that will leave you with new skills, new resources, and renewed energy and inspiration to do the work that you do.

Register and pay by March 4 to receive the discounted rate!

The Recession and Child Well-Being

When the economy takes a downturn, it often hits the most vulnerable children and families the hardest. The recent recession is no exception. As a result of increased poverty, approximately 43 percent of families with children report difficulty in affording stable housing. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of households classified as “food insecure" - 21 percent of all households with children fell into this category in 2008, the highest percentage since 1995 when yearly measurement started, and a nearly 25 percent increase from 2007.

These are the findings of a new series of papers, The Effect of the Recession on Child Well-Being, written by researchers from PolicyLab at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The report examines four areas – health, food security, housing stability and maltreatment – and reviews the relationship of each to the well-being of children during recessions both past and present. According to the report, it will take years for families to return to pre-recession income levels, with low-income families struggling even longer to rebound. A second key finding is that public programs play a pivotal role in moderating the negative impacts of a recession. A companion set of policy briefs consider the role of public programs in economic recovery and provide recommendations for improving the provision of services to vulnerable children and families as we bounce back from the recession.

We want to hear from you!

We're busy at work on a number of exciting projects this summer, including a redesign of our web site. That's why we'd like to hear from you. Please take a moment to complete our brief survey and tell us what you think about our current web site and what you'd like to see changed. Your feedback will help us provide the most useful and relevant information possible. Thanks in advance for your help!