Prevent Child Abuse
Get Involved
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month
Join us as we share resources, safety tips, and prevention strategies. We can all have a part in keeping children safe. Our outreach efforts aim to bring awareness to the prevention of child abuse.
- Wear Blue Day – On Friday, April 3, wear BLUE to show your support of the prevention of child abuse. Take it one step further and wear blue every Friday in April!
- Pinwheels with a Purchase – Support the awareness of child abuse prevention efforts when you shop with community supporters. Look for pinwheel stickers on participating local merchant bags!
- Pinwheel Bouquets –When you see our blue pinwheel bouquets, you are supporting a business who partners to prevent child abuse.
- Pinwheel Popups –Pinwheel yard signs highlight the symbol of child abuse prevention and feature our community’s Champions for Children!
- Prevention Posts – Follow us on social media for tips, resources, and strategies to prevent child abuse.
If you would like to request any of the free outreach items, please contact us at 229-236-5437 or info@treehousethomasville.org.
Internet Safety Tips
- Do your research. Review the apps your child has or the apps you are considering for your child. Make sure you have full understanding of who can and cannot contact your child through those apps. Also, be sure to know who can change app settings – whether only you can or if your child can from their device.
- You make the rules. Set clear boundaries about devices and what apps or sites are allowed. Establish clear times when your child is allowed to be online or on their device as well as what locations are ok for them to use their device. For example, we recommend no devices in bedrooms, bathrooms, or other private spaces.
- Educate your child. Explain why you are implementing rules and their importance. Keeping age and developmental level in mind, let your child know that there are people who go online to take advantage of children and teenagers. Those people can be hard to spot because they may use other names, a different age, a fake profile or other lies to trick kids.
- Talk about it! Let your child know you will always listen when they come to you with a question or problem. Ask your child if they will educate you on how their favorite apps work. Use this as an opportunity to connect with your child rather than a topic that will create division or secrecy.
- Stay smart. Don’t be fooled. Children are brilliant with technology and can be much faster at learning new online tools than adults. Make sure you stay current with the apps in which your child participates and ways your child can disguise or hide their activity from you.
Prevention Strategies
With the help of our partners, we not only bring safety, healing, and hope to children and families, but we also equip our community to recognize, report, and prevent child abuse.
- Let us train your group in strategies to prevent child abuse.
- Book a CAC speaker to give your group the latest in child abuse awareness and prevention.
Georgia’s Mandated Reporter Training
We help professional reporters understand their legal obligations and train them to recognize and report child abuse.
- Identify the signs of child abuse
- Understand your legal obligations
- Know the steps for reporting child abuse
- Understand the value of your role as a mandated reporter
Safe to Compete Training
Safe to Compete is a national initiative between It’s a Penalty and The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to prevent abuse, exploitation and trafficking of young children as they learn to compete in youth sports.
Sports should be safe places for children to grow both as people and athletes. Unfortunately, recent high-profile media cases of young athletes being abused while competing have drawn attention to the issue of child protection in sport all over the world. But child sexual abuse in sport is preventable! Safe to Compete seeks to equip coaches and parents with the tools needed to create a safe environment in sport where boundary violations of any sort are not tolerated, and where child safety and respect are top priorities. The new and improved program now includes:
Sports should be safe places for children to grow both as people and athletes. Unfortunately, recent high-profile media cases of young athletes being abused while competing have drawn attention to the issue of child protection in sport all over the world. But child sexual abuse in sport is preventable! Safe to Compete seeks to equip coaches and parents with the tools needed to create a safe environment in sport where boundary violations of any sort are not tolerated, and where child safety and respect are top priorities. The new and improved program now includes:
- 30-minute interactive training course for coaches
- 15-minute parent education module
- Discussion guides on boundary setting and safety for kids ages 5-11 and 12-17
- Information on child sex trafficking
- Resources for coaches