April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

National Child Abuse Prevention Month began, on Friday, and the Children’s Center of the Antelope Valley is partnering with local people and businesses to help raise awareness about — and help prevent — child abuse.

In honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month, many local businesses are offering discounts and special menu items, in April.

It’s important for communities to work together to prevent child abuse and mistreatment and to help families thrive. The Antelope Valley is all too familiar with the effect that child abuse has on the community. Those cases have an even greater impact on everyone when they end tragically.

According to childwelfare.gov, there are at least six protective factors that community-based service providers can use to identify strengths in families and how those strengths can be further developed to prevent child abuse.

1. Nurturing and attachment: A child’s early experiences of being nurtured and developing a bond with a caring adult affects all aspects of behavior and development. When parents and children have strong, warm feelings for one another, children develop trust that their parents will provide what they need to thrive.

2. Knowledge of parenting for child and youth development: There is extensive research linking healthy child development to effective parenting. Children thrive when parents provide not only affection but also respectful communication and listening, consistent rules and expectations and safe opportunities that promote independence.

3. Parental resilience: Parents who can cope with the stresses of everyday life, as well as an occasional crisis, have resilience; they have the flexibility and inner strength necessary to bounce back when things are not going well.

4. Social connections: Parents and caregivers with a social network of emotionally supportive friends, family and neighbors often find that it is easier to care for their children and themselves compared with those who do not have such a network. All caregivers need people they can call on once in a while when they need a sympathetic listener, advice or concrete support.

5. Concrete support for parents: Partnering with parents to identify and access resources in the community may help prevent the stress that sometimes precipitates child maltreatment.

6. Social and emotional competence of children: Parents support healthy social and emotional development in children when they model how to express and communicate emotions effectively, self-regulate and make friends.

Luckily for the Antelope Valley, the Children’s Center of the Antelope Valley provides a continuum of services aimed at breaking the cycle of trauma. It includes caring for the needs of child victims of abuse and their families, as well as preventing abuse.

“The center offers comprehensive prevention, intervention, and treatment services,” a press release from CCAV said. “CCAV also serves as the lead agency in coordinating the resources of multiple community-based organizations to ensure clients have access to a broad range of support.”

For more information about the Children’s Center, visit ccav.org