April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

Join us Wednesday in Raising Awareness on Child Abuse Prevention Day

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and this week, we’ve partnered up with PCSAO, Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, American Academy of Pediatrics-Ohio Chapter, Ohio Association of Infant Mental Health, and Moms2B to help raise awareness about child abuse and neglect in our state, especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic

This Wednesday, April 8th we will be hosting a webinar on Preventing Child Abuse During Coronavirus Pandemic. Speakers will share insights on the impact of the pandemic on rates of child abuse and neglect in the state and how we can respond to these challenges through an early childhood mental health and trauma lens. Speakers will include: Lynanne Gutierrez, Policy Director and Legal Counsel at Groundwork Ohio Dr. Jonathan Thackeray, Chief Medical Community Health Officer at Dayton Children’s Hospital Lee Johnson III, Senior Policy Analyst for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health at ZERO TO THREE Dr. Melissa T. Merrick, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America.

Register for the Webinar

Wednesday is also Wear Blue Day to raise awareness around child abuse and neglect in Ohio. Join hundreds of Ohioans raising awareness about this issue and to let families know that we are all here to support them by wearing blue on Wednesday and posting a picture on social media with #OhioWearsBlue (check out Groundwork’s social media toolkit here for some sample posts). We hope you will share these opportunities outlined below with your colleagues, stakeholders, providers, teachers, friends—anyone who typically interacts with families and is adjusting to this new normal during the pandemic. To help you prepare for Wednesday, we created a toolkit with sample messages, tweets, infographics, etc. to help make sharing this opportunity with others quick and easy!

Download Social Media Toolkit