Friday's Internet Edition, March 12, 2010.
proclaimed by Mayor Rumsey
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| CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH - Mayor Roy Rumsey signed a proclamation last Thursday naming April as Child Abuse Prevention month in Hamilton. He is shown here presenting the proclamation to Susan Tober of Hamil-ton Child Protective Services. Staff Photo |
Neglect is the most frequent form of child abuse, according to the state agency charged with protecting children. Sometimes children die simply because they're put in situations where they are not supervised.
We all know that law enforcement cannot prevent all crime, and we can’t expect the state's Child Protective Services to stop all child abuse and neglect. In fact, in the majority of the most tragic cases of child abuse—those in which a child died—Child Protective Services had no opportunity to impact the safety of the child at risk. Maybe it was a situation that people outside the family couldn’t see or maybe the child's parent didn’t realize that their own action put their child's life at risk. As a community, we all have to recognize neglect and not walk away from it.
But parents aren’t alone. Information and support is available to help make Hamilton strong and safe. The Web site www.itsuptoyou.org contains lots of information on how to prevent child abuse, where to go to get help with parenting skills, and what to do if you suspect a child is in danger.
Additionally, volunteers from the Child Protective Services Board are working to make Hamilton County an even safer place for children to grow up. Members include Kyle Baker, Frank Craig, Debbie Eoff, Janna Johnson, Lou Kinsey, Saundra Lengefeld, Deanna melde, Lynn Muxworthy, Russell Nebhut, Alena Tatum, Susan Tober, and Kay Kay Zimmerman. Feel free to contact a Board member for additional information about resources that are available or about ways that you can help prevent child abuse in our community.
It's up to all of us to prevent child abuse. We must work to put our children first, safe and secure.