April is the National Child Abuse Awareness month and has been since 1983. This first started out when the awareness of child abuse became important to the public in trying to secure their safety and welfare. This led to the first Federal child protection legislation which was named Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), and was created in 1974. Over the years CAPTA has been amended over the years, the most recent being in 2010. But still, the initial goal of the act is still intact.

In the 1980’s child abuse was still on the rise. To make the people of our country more aware of this issue, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives solution was to appoint a week of June (6-12) as the first National Child Abuse Prevention Week. But then, a year later they appointed April as the first National Child Abuse Prevention month. Since then, April has been appointed as said month.

In 1987, the Blue Ribbon Campaign to Prevent Child Abuse started in Virginia by a grandmother who had lost her grandson to child abuse. She tied a blue ribbon to the antenna of her car to alert everyone who saw what had happened.

In April, each day of the week has a special message. Sundays’ are Protective Factors, Mondays’ are Social and Emotional Competence of Children, Tuesdays’ are Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development, Wednesdays’ are Parental Resilience, Thursdays’ are Social Connections, Fridays’ are Concrete Supports for Parents, and Saturdays’ are Nurturing and Attachment. Each day alone also has a special activity for someone to do in remembrance of the children. (All of the information given for the Child Abuse Awareness Calendar was submitted by local Strengthening Families sites.)

So, let’s do something to stand up and take care of the children of our community! There are plenty of things we could do as adults and kids alike.