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Let’s honor Child Abuse Prevention Month this April by protecting our kids from harm – and preparing them with knowledge and skills for taking charge of their own safety.
Sadly, we cannot take away the suffering caused by abuse in the past.
We can and must do our best to protect the kids of today and tomorrow – and to help everyone who has survived abuse as a child to find healing and hope.
Here are seven child abuse prevention actions each of us can take this month that will make a difference:
1. If you know or suspect that a child is being abused or that this might be about to happen, GET HELP NOW!
If you don’t know how to get help, contact us, and we will do our best to give you guidance depending on where you live and what your concern is. If you aren’t sure, here are some steps to take if a child comes to you for help.
2. Discuss the Kidpower Protection Promise with every child in your care.
Watch our inspiring 1-minute Kidpower Protection Promise video, download and post our free posters, and remind kids that they are the most important thing in our lives, and we want to know about their problems no matter what.
3. Learn and practice social safety skills and strategies to prepare kids to stay safe from abuse and bullying.
If you can, take one of our workshops. Sign up to become a free community member of our online Library for access to over 200 resources. Use and share our Protecting Kids From Abuse Resource Page.
3. Watch and share the free Protecting Youth Athletes from Sexual Abuse videos and handouts with key actions for parents, coaches, and leaders.
Kidpower created these special Protecting Youth Athletes from Sexual Abuse materials with Positive Coaching Alliance, and they are relevant for all adults who are participating in any capacity with kids in a sports or recreation program.
4. Read Worthy of Trust: What Organizations Must Do to Keep Kids Safe.
Assess whether your school, youth organization, place of worship, and social groups are making the hard decisions and ensuring that everyone has the knowledge to protect kids from abuse and other harm.
5. Buy a “RelationSafe” book as a gift to yourself or someone else.
Our RelationSafe books are like our program – practical, upbeat, entertaining, hands-on, and for all ages and abilities. Families, schools, and organizations worldwide are using our curriculum in their own child abuse prevention programs. All funds from the sale of our books goes to cover the costs of publication and create new educational resources.
6. Sign-up for our three-day Child Protection Advocates Training Institute.
Learn how to use the advocacy, intervention, and personal safety skills we teach to protect kids in your personal and professional life. Registration is open for our 2017 Summer Institute now.
7. Make a donation in any amount to Kidpower.
Every dollar you give helps our nonprofit organization to provide child protection education and personal safety skills locally and around the world. Join us in celebrating Kidpower’s 28 years of protecting people of all ages and abilities from all forms of abuse, bullying, and other violence in ways that increase confidence and competence rather than creating fear.
Abuse thrives in secrecy and the shame so many people feel about the abuse can perpetuate the silence. Most child abuse survivors do NOT want their lives defined by this crime – and, like most people, they DO need to feel accepted by others.
If someone tells you about an abusive experience as a child, listen with compassion and without judgement. If you know someone who is struggling with the harm from past abuse, encourage this person to get help. One exceptional resource is The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Sexual Abuse, which has become a classic. Co-Author and Poet Ellen Bass is also Kidpower’s Founding Board President, a dear friend, and the first person who taught me about self-defense.
Published: April 1, 2017 | Last Updated: April 1, 2017
Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director
Kidpower Founder and Executive Irene van der Zande is a master at teaching safety through stories and practices and at inspiring others to do the same. Her child protection and personal safety expertise has been featured by USA Today, CNN, Today Moms, the LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Publications include: cartoon-illustrated Kidpower Safety Comics and Kidpower Teaching Books curriculum; Bullying: What Adults Need to Know and Do to Keep Kids Safe; the Relationship Safety Skills Handbook for Teens and Adults; Earliest Teachable Moment: Personal Safety for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers; The Kidpower Book for Caring Adults: Personal Safety, Self-Protection, Confidence, and Advocacy for Young People, and the Amazon Best Seller Doing Right by Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels.
