As we recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month, we invite you to become a part of the Pinwheels for Prevention campaign, a national movement to change the way we approach prevention in our community.
The pinwheels planted in our community during April symbolize the happy, healthy childhoods all children deserve. They also remind us of our ongoing responsibility to ensure every child has an equal opportunity for healthy growth and development.
In these unprecedented times, preventing child abuse and neglect is especially important.
A landmark study in the 1990s found a significant relationship between the number of adverse childhood experiences a person experienced and a variety of negative outcomes in adulthood, including poor physical and mental health, substance use, and risky behaviors.
The more ACEs experienced, like abuse, neglect, parental substance use or mental illness, parental incarceration and domestic violence, the greater the risk for these outcomes. By definition, children involved with the child welfare system have suffered at least one ACE. Understanding the impact of ACEs and how to build resilience in children and families can lead to more trauma-informed interventions that help to mitigate negative outcomes.
For more information and resources about ACEs, see Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
Whether our children will achieve their full potential as healthy, productive members of our community depends largely on each of us. Learn more about this important cause by visiting heartlandforchildren.org/pinwheels.
