Child Abuse Awareness Month

Wednesday, 27 April 2011 16:39

Child Abuse Awareness Month

Written by Scott LaMar, Director of Radio Smart Talk

Radio Smart Talk for Thursday, April 28:

We all want to prevent child abuse, but how do we go about doing it? What can or should we do the next time we see a parent mistreating a child in the grocery store, or when we suspect, but can't substantiate, some form of abuse?

We'll learn more about efforts to prevent child abuse in the Commonwealth and across the nation from Cathleen Palm, Executive Director of the Protect Our Children Committee, Dr. Maria McColgan, Medical Director, Child Protection Program at St. Christopher's Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and Beth Bitler, Program Director of the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance.

PA Dept. of Public Welfare Childline to report child abuse: 1-800-932-0313

See the PA Dept. of Public Welfare's 2010 Child Abuse Report.

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# Carol Wenger 2011-04-28 07:53

A few weeks ago I told a story on my blog about a time I had one of those store moments, including my feelings and actions.
http://carol-thecommunique.blogspot.com/2011/03/shaped-by-new-birth.html
Thank you for the excellent programming and conversations that expands our thinking and experiences. carol

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# robin 2011-04-28 09:39

This is such a sticky issue, when does physically correcting a child with a pat on the backside for a tantrum in public, end and abuse begin??
What's more this is a cultural issue, economic and other frustrations and fatigue in single parent households etc exacerbate these situations.
Changing standards over time of "acceptable" methods of "correcting" come into play.
And especially Kids raising kids.
How does a parent learn how to parent???? - they don't come with directions - no wonder parents fail. There used to be an organization in Harrisburg called "Parentworks" whose mission was to teach parenting skills to young parents, we need more like it.

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# Beth Bitler 2011-04-28 10:59

Thanks for the opportunity WITF! Just wanted to post contact information if folks want to learn more about PA Family Support Alliance or the Front Porch Project. Phone 800-448-4906 (in PA) or 717-238-0937. Visit www.pa-fsa.org.

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# Raffy Luquis 2011-04-28 17:32

Great program. This is an important issue as we all should do our part to protect our children from abuse.

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# robert colgan 2011-04-29 00:03

What I didn't hear today was a conversation about the truly damning deleterious effects of childhood abuse on the child, and on society since most children grow up to become parents---------and potentially inject the abuse into their children... so it's multiplicative, and the cost to society of the abuse both in medical/psychological treatment and the loss of healthy responsible citizens is huge.

All it would take is one generation of significant strategic social intervention to identify and treat the at-risk and likewise treat the offenders or remove them from child contact. . . . and society would be healthier, and safer.

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# Debbie Riek 2011-04-29 10:29

Robin-- I think that there are some great parent support programs out there -some out of non-profits and religious institutions and we offer workshops here at WITF, too. I don't in any way want to suggest that those programs aren't important. They really are! At the same time, I think one of the biggest helps to families raising young children "without directions" is to find other families in their neighborhood to connect to. When I grew up, my family had a support system throughout the whole neighborhood. The kids would play together and the grown ups would talk. This is harder to find today and this disconnect can lead to poor choices and isolation. Building relationships in our community and supporting families with young children is something that all of us can do.

We need to consider the short and long term effects of our parenting decisions. What is the child really learning from us and is that a lesson we really want to teach?

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# Sharon Bear 2011-05-12 13:07

Today I had the opportunity to use some of the suggestions to help another parent struggling with her child in a public setting. I just wanted to thank both of your guests and this show for giving me new ways of thinking and behaving so that WE ALL CAN PREVENT ABUSE! I particularly loved the suggestion of complimenting a parent's child to help diffuse a situation. I never would have thought of that on my own. Thanks for empowering me when normally I would have just sat there and felt morally torn and helpless.

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