April is Prevent Child Abuse Awareness Month and it’s focused on making Iowa a safer place where children can thrive. Sharon Miller is executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Iowa, based in Des Moines.
“This year’s theme is powered by hope and strengthened by prevention,” Miller says. “It’s really around what we can do to encourage prevention and support those parents and caregivers that are facing some challenges that might make some choices that they normally wouldn’t make if they weren’t under some stress.”
The newest figures for Iowa indicate the reported number of suspected child abuse cases held steady last year, compared to the year before.
“Our number-one case of child abuse is actually neglect, and roughly 60% of all child abuse cases in Iowa are neglect, which is classified as denial of critical care,” Miller says. “That could be lack of food, lack of shelter, lack of resources, lack of secure housing, things like that.”
The agency’s annual Prevent Child Abuse Conference is scheduled for April 29th and 30th in Ankeny.
“What we really want to do is empower and uplift individuals that are home visitors, prevention workers, social workers, librarians, school professionals that work with families, day in and day out,” Miller says. “Sometimes that work is overwhelming, and this gives us an opportunity to create and learn new skills, but also to lean on each other.”
Prevent Child Abuse Iowa is marking its 50th anniversary this year with a special event scheduled for June in Ames. Learn more about that at the website — pcaiowa.org.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)