April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and offers an opportunity to focus awareness on the prevention of child abuse and neglect in order to strengthen families through collaborative efforts.
Strong community engagement can help prevent child abuse and neglect. Judges, attorneys, and other professionals can educate themselves on prevention resources to spread awareness, spotlight the need to prevent child abuse before it occurs, and energize their community efforts. Additionally, judges and attorneys can encourage prevention through their personal and professional interactions.
The Texas Department of Family & Protective Services (DFPS) provides a social media toolkit on Child Abuse Prevention with tips and resources that judges and attorneys can share among their communities to promote prevention practices. To streamline resources for Texas parents, the DFPS Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) division manages child abuse prevention programs across the state by helping communities identify and meet their needs. PEI provides parents and caregivers information on health and development, parenting tips, childcare, and education, along with a “Community Toolkit” to develop a framework outlining what communities can do to help.
Other resources that may be useful are listed below:
By utilizing and sharing the resources above, judges and attorneys can help prevent child abuse and neglect and join efforts to support families within their communities.
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