April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The prevention of child abuse is vitally important to the safety and growth of children. When detected early and with the proper treatments and interventions one can avert from the negative mental and physical outcomes that can occur in their teen and adult years.
Abuse can come in many forms: Sexual, Abandonment, Emotional, Substance, Neglect, Physical.
Things you can do to prevent child abuse:
Children need to know that they are special and capable of following their dreams. When the big and little problems of your everyday life make you feel overwhelmed and out of control, take time out. Don’t take it out on your kid. It can be frustrating to hear your baby cry. Learn what to do if your baby won’t stop crying. Never shake a baby—shaking a child may result in severe injury or death. Ask your community leaders, clergy, library and schools to develop services to meet the needs of healthy children and families. Find out whether your local library has parenting resources, and if it does not, offer to help obtain some. Download the 2014 Resource Guide: "Making Meaningful Connections" from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Here are a few books, both fiction and non-fiction, that relate to children in abusive situations.
Etched In Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived An Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island by Regina CalcaterraForged by Fire by Sharon DraperHidden Girl The True Story of A Modern-Day Child Slave by Shyima HallOut of This Place by Emma CameronPee-Shy by Frank SpinelliTouching Snow by Sindy M FelinFaith by Jennifer HaighThe Rules of Survival by Nancy WerlinStick by Andrew SmithOur Gracie Aunt by Jacqueline WoodsonWhere People Like Us Live by Patricia CumbieMore Fiction and Nonfiction in the catalog.
These books and many others pertaining to this topic can be found in your local library or placed on hold.