PREVENTION ADVOCACY

 

Throughout society, there is an increasing recognition that almost all parents, particularly new parents, need a nurturing environment to help them raise their children. Prevent Child Abuse America, through its Advocacy Program, continues to focus advocacy efforts on promoting public policies that reflect a commitment to protecting children and supporting families.  We also work to help obtain resources to aid support and sustain effective prevention programs.   

To strengthen our efforts, Prevent Child Abuse America works in partnership with the National Child Abuse Coalition, which is composed of over 40 national organizations, and our nationwide Chapter Network on the state and local levels.  Through technical assistance, support, and guidance to the Chapter Network and HFA sites, Prevent Child Abuse America's advocacy program has helped to build statewide coalitions, sustain funding streams, and encourage home visiting programs across the country. 

Prevent Child Abuse America communicates with chapters and HFA sites about important national child welfare legislation and how they might impact local prevention efforts through action alerts, legislative updates, and monthly bulletins. Last year, Prevent Child Abuse America helped to ensure the reauthorization of the Family Preservation and Support Services Program, renamed the Safe and Stable Families Program. Prevent Child Abuse America also helped to develop a prevention-focused policy agenda to actively engage and educate the public in their efforts to advocate for children.  

As part of an initiative funded by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, we are working with our chapters on the state and local levels to increase support for more comprehensive, community systems of child protection.  This initiative focuses on creating effective and informed citizen participation in community efforts to protect children from abuse.  Over the past year, Prevent Child Abuse America offered technical assistance and support to states as they plan for the development of citizen review panels. These panels evaluate the effectiveness of Child Protective Service (CPS) systems. Our chapters also are developing information packets, which cover the CPS systems, for a variety of public audiences. These packets will be replicated and distributed by the entire Chapter Network. 

In addition, we have been working on securing long-term funding to make home visiting services available to all parents of newborns. Stable funding is vital to guarantee the future success of the HFA initiative. Over the past year, Prevent Child Abuse America has been dedicated to exploring funding through options such as block grants and managed health care.  Many states were successful in gaining support through these means. We will continue to explore other sources of funding as they emerge.