April is National Child Abuse Awareness Month

Tiffany Wismer
·1 min read
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(COLORADO) — Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) recognize April as National Child Abuse Awareness Month. The Office of Children, Youth, and Families (OCYF) is calling our communities to take steps to strengthen and support families and prevent child abuse.

The CO4Kids website outlines 5 Protective Factors against child abuse:

  1. Parental resilience: providing support to parents so they can manage stress and function well during challenges, adversity, and trauma.

  2. Social connections: creating positive relationships so that families can thrive in every way, including emotional, practical, and spiritual.

  3. Concrete support in times of need: making sure parents have access to support and services that address concrete needs and help mitigate stress caused by life challenges.

  4. Knowledge of parenting and child development: giving parents strategies to understand and cope during all stages of childhood development, and to support children during physical, cognitive, language, social, and emotional developmental stages.

  5. Social and emotional competence of children: building strong communication skills in children and families, and the ability to recognize and regulate emotions within relationships.

In 2023, the Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline received 117,760 calls related to child welfare, according to CDHS.

In addition to helping to strengthen families, every Colorado neighbor is encouraged to call the Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline (1-844-CO-4-KIDS or 844-264-5437) if you are concerned a child may be experiencing abuse or neglect.

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