March 2024

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, which is an extremely busy time of year with prevention awareness activities occurring throughout Indiana. The child abuse prevention community looks forward to this unfettered platform to discuss our important work all month long. Effective child abuse prevention can only take place through collaboration. Please take this opportunity to explore, attend, and support child abuse prevention awareness activities in your area including:

• PCAIN April Kickoff Event - April 1st – Pastries at 9:15 am (Eastern Time) with the Kickoff will start at 10 am and the Pinwheel Planting to follow at The Villages office at 3833 N. Meridian Street, Indianapolis. Speakers from CareSource, Riley's Children's Hospital and The Villages will focus on the theme of “Building a Hopeful Future, Together”. Click Here to register to attend in person. The Kickoff will also be available on PCAIN Facebook Live starting at 10am.
• Wear Blue Day – April 5th.
• Marion County Prevention Partners Kickoff - April 7th – Additional details to come, please check the Calendar of Events on our website.
• PCAIN Matt Breman 5K Walk/Run on April 20th Link to the Flyer and Link to details and registration.
• Please consider sharing this event flyer with community and school running clubs, who may be interested in participating in this worthwhile event. 
• PCAIN covets participation by local child abuse prevention councils to have interactive/youth focused activity tables as part of this event. Please contact Kathy King to express your interest. There is no cost for this exhibit and collaboration opportunity.  
• Indiana Council Events: Link to Calendar of Events on the PCAIN website that include the Council Events that have been shared with us. This is the best way to see up-to-date information on child abuse prevention awareness events offered throughout Indiana.  

Rachel is not new to The Villages, rather she has quite literally “grown up at The Villages.” Her first job after graduating from college was with The Villages, where she has remained to this day, in a number of different roles, primarily within the Healthy Families program. Please join me in welcoming Rachel into her new role, to which she brings a fresh perspective and enthusiasm for promoting the underlying importance of prevention in all aspects of services and programming provided by The Villages of Indiana. 

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) recently trained Prevent Child Abuse Indiana staff on their Internet Safety curricula. This will be offered soon for adult/parent groups, and later for youth.  If you are interested in training your group, please watch our website training request page in the coming months.

One staggering statistic learned through that training with NCMEC relates to the increased time children are spending on their device screens since the Covid pandemic; 19,000 children were enticed online in 2020, which increased to 80,000 in 2023. This represents an increase of more than four times as many kids being enticed!! (Definition of Entice: Something to lure, attract or tempt someone.)

There are many important internet safety messages to share, but here are a few tips for now.  

• An open and positive relationship with your kids is the best defense. Remind them that YOU are their “safety-net,” no matter what happens in life! You are there for them. So, if there ever is suspicious activity, hopefully your kids will come tell you. 
• Remind them often that even if they think they know someone...they should not give out personal information, including phone numbers, addresses, or school names. Predators are often people we “know”.
• Review your child’s phone and computer often and reinforce with the kids it is your job to keep them safe. Shut the internet down at night, after homework hours. Report any suspicious activity to 911, or 1-800-THE-LOST or cybertipline.org

The rise of kinship placements, where relatives or close family friends’ step in to care for children who cannot be with their biological parents, is a noteworthy trend. Many caregivers find themselves unexpectedly called upon to provide a home and support for these children, often in challenging circumstances. These caregivers come from various familial relationships, not just grandparents but also aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends.

In Indiana, as in many other places across the nation, there's an increasing recognition of the importance of kinship care. Programs like The Villages' Family Connection Network play a crucial role in providing support to these families. Financial assistance is often needed, as kinship families may struggle to access traditional support programs due to various reasons, including lack of awareness of resources and financial disqualification.

Support groups offered by organizations like The Villages provide a vital lifeline for caregivers and children alike. These groups offer not only practical assistance but also emotional support; providing a safe space for caregivers to share their experiences and feelings without fear of judgment. For the children, these groups offer a sense of belonging and understanding, reducing the feelings of isolation or embarrassment they may experience due to their family situation.

The testimony of caregivers, who have found solace and assistance through programs like the kinship program at The Villages, highlights the importance of such initiatives. These programs not only help families navigate the challenges of kinship care but also provide essential emotional and practical support, ultimately benefiting the well-being of both caregivers and the children in their care.

Family mealtimes are important for parents and children as a space to communicate, socialize, and build attachment relationships. But it can be difficult for busy parents to balance family and work life. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explores how parents’ job stress influences their attendance at family mealtimes, and in turn, children’s socioemotional development.



“We all struggle to maintain the balance between work life and family life. But this might be especially challenging for parents, who are engaging in childcare after a busy and stressful day at work. And when it comes to co-parenting in dual-earner families, which comprises 65% of families with children in United States, we do not know much about how mothers and fathers share caregiving roles under work stress,” said lead author Sehyun Ju. “We found that children of parents who expressed higher work-related stress when the children were 2 years old had lower socioemotional competency at age 4 to 5, measured by lower positive and higher negative social behaviors,” Ju explained. 

There were significant differences regarding the impact of mothers’ and fathers’ work stress. For mothers, higher job dissatisfaction did not impact frequency of family mealtimes; however, it was directly associated with lower socioemotional competency in their children. 

On the other hand, fathers who had higher job and financial dissatisfaction were less likely to attend family mealtimes with their children, and this in turn resulted in the children having lower socioemotional competency at age 4 to 5. 

“Even when the mother increased her mealtime presence to compensate for the father’s absence, the child’s socioemotional development was still negatively impacted. This indicates fathers may have a unique influence that cannot be replaced by the mother. Future intervention programs should help both parents obtain a better balance between work and family, and highlight the importance of family routines to promote healthy child development,” stated co-author Qiujie Gong

Karen Kramer, associate professor in HDFS and co-author on the study. “Mothers are considered primary caregivers, and they are expected to be present and feed their children no matter what. The study showed they didn't adjust their mealtime frequencies in response to job dissatisfaction as fathers did.”

“We have to acknowledge the challenges that families face in creating consistent routines. It’s not just an outcome of individual influences. Outside factors, such as parents’ work environment and financial situation can affect their interactions, mealtimes, and child development. For example, dinner time for young kids is typically around five or six o'clock, but the expectation that parents are home early in the day doesn’t align with being an ideal worker. Policy initiatives to help provide a work environment and community support that facilitate family mealtimes would be important,” Kramer concluded.

Ju, S., Gong, Q., & Kramer, K. Z. (2023). Association of parents’ work-related stress and children’s socioemotional competency: Indirect effects of family mealtimes. Journal of Family Psychology, 37(7), 977–983. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001147  

Kids First Support of Prevent Child Abuse Indiana

Help support statewide efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect by the continued use of the Kids First license plate, or when your plates are due again by purchasing the Kids First license plate. For more information, please visit their website. Funding from the Kids First plates helps us work with our Prevention Councils throughout Indiana.



If you would like to make a donation to Prevent Child Abuse Indiana directly,

Click Here



Prevent Child Abuse Indiana

A Division of The Villages of Indiana



317-775-6500

www.pcain.org