Resources

Child Abuse
Domestic Violence
Parenting Education
Child Development and Child Related Issues
Community Resources

Child Abuse

Facts About Abuse and Neglect

The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect defines child abuse and neglect as

• Any ...act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or
• An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm

The CT Department of Children and Families website describes abuse and neglect:

1. a non-accidental injury to a child which, regardless of motive, is inflicted or allowed to be inflicted by the person responsible for the child's care and
2. includes:

• any injury which is at variance with the history given
• maltreatment such as, but not limited to, malnutrition, sexual molestation, deprivation of necessities, emotional maltreatment or cruel punishment

Neglect is the failure, whether intentional or not, of the person responsible for the child's care to provide and maintain adequate food, clothing, medical care, supervision, and/or education. A child may be found neglected who:

1. has been abandoned
2. is being denied proper care and attention physically, educationally, emotionally, or morally
3. is being permitted to live under conditions, circumstances or associations injurious to his well-being
4. is being abused.

The statistics can feel overwhelming. In Connecticut State fiscal year 2008, the CT Department of Children and Families fielded over 68,000 allegations of child abuse and neglect, accepted over 24,000 reports and substantiated 17,437.

How You Can Help

At CCCC we are developing programs to reduce risk and increase protective factors to prevent child abuse and neglect. We make home visitations and use evidence-based parenting education curricula to increase knowledge of child development and improve positive parenting practices and strengthen the nurturing bonds between parents and children. We help families to identify and develop support networks and assist them to obtain the concrete supports they need such as food and diapers.

You can help. Research has shown that support from family, friends, neighbors and communities can be essential in helping parents develop safe and healthy homes for their children. Volunteer at a local school or community organization. Assist your friends and family members by babysitting or helping with chores or errands. Know how to identify and report signs of abuse or neglect so a family will get help. Make a donation to your local child abuse prevention agency.

For more informtion on child abuse prevention, visit the Child Welfare Information Gateway at http://www.childwelfare.gov/ and Prevent Child Abuse America at http://www.preventchildabuse.org/index.shtml.

Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect

Anyone can report suspected child abuse and neglect. Anyone who makes a report in good faith having reasonable grounds for making the report has immunity from civil or criminal liability. Making a report of child abuse or neglect can help protect a child and get needed services to the family.

Reports of child abuse and neglect should not be made to CCCC. In Connecticut there is a single point of contact for reporting and it is the Department of Children and Families Hotline at (800) 842-2288. The Hotline is available 24 hours/day, seven days/week. If you wish to ask about services for yourself and your family, you can call the Information and Referral line at the same phone number, available Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:00 pm. For fuller information about identifying and reporting abuse, access the DCF website at http://www.ct.gov/dcf/cwp/view.asp?a=2556&Q=314388#Hotline.

Get Help for Yourself

In Connecticut, if you would like to request help for yourself and your family, contact Infoline by dialing 211 on your telephone. Infoline has information about parenting classes in your area and other parenting and family supports including help to meet basic needs such as food and diaper banks. If you disclose abuse or neglect to certain professionals who regularly work with children, they may be required to make a report to the CT Department of Children and Families. You can also call Childhelp®, a national organization that provides crisis assistance and other counseling and referral services. This national child abuse hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with professional crisis counselors who have access to a database of 55,000 emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are anonymous. Contact them at 1.800.4.A.CHILD. (1.800.422.4453).

If you feel that you need immediate help to avoid injuring your child, call a friend, neighbor, church member, or anyone who may be able to give you encouragement and respite. Make sure your child is in a safe place and, without leaving the house, give yourself a break. Practice deep breathing or visualization. Play soft music. Take a shower. When things are calm, make a plan of how you will handle this situation the next time. Taking care of children can be challenging!

Child Abduction Prevention

GENERAL TIPS TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN SAFER

1. Know where your children are at all times
2. Never leave children unattended in an automobile
3. Be involved in your children's activities
4. Listen to your children. Pay attention if they tell you they don't want to be with someone or go somewhere. That may be a clue that something is wrong.
5. Notice when someone shows your children a great deal of attention or gives them gifts.
6. Teach your children that they have the right to say NO to any unwelcome or uncomfortable touch or actions by others.
7. Be sensitive to changes in your children's behavior or attitude. Encourage open communication. Pay attention to clues that something may be troubling your children.
8. Practice safety skills with your children. Create experiences in which your children can practice using pay phones, using the restroom with a friend, and locating adults who can help them if they need assistance.
9. Remember that there is no substitute for your attention and supervision.

Source: www.state.ct.us/dcf/Child_Abduction/abduction_index.htm

For more information, contact 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or go to www.missingkids.com Source: www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC83.pdf

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Domestic Violence

WARNING

Computer use can be monitored and is impossible to completely clear. If you are afraid your internet and/or computer usage might be monitored, please use a safer computer, call your local hotline, and/or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−SAFE (7233) or TTY 1−800−787−3224

What is Domestic Violence?

The CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV) defines it as a pattern of abusive behavior in an intimate relationship where one partner tries to control and dominate the other. The behavior may be verbally, psychologically, physically or sexually abusive. Assaulting, threatening or stalking an intimate partner is a crime in the state of Connecticut and all crime victims have rights that are protected by law.

CCADV offers the following checklist to help determine if you are a victim of domestic violence.

Does your partner:

• constantly criticize you and your abilities as a spouse or partner, parent or employee?
• behave in an over-protective manner or become extremely jealous?
• threaten to hurt you, your children, pets, family members, friends or himself?
• prevent you from seeing family or friends?
• get suddenly angry or "lose his temper"?
• destroy personal property or throw things around?
• deny you access to family assets like bank accounts, credit cards, or the car, or control all finances and force you to account for what you spend?
• use intimidation or manipulation to control you or your children?
• hit, punch, slap, kick, shove, choke or bite you?
• prevent you from going where you want to, when you want to, and with whomever you want to?
• make you have sex when you don't want to or do things sexually that you don't want to do?
• humiliate or embarrass you in front of other people?

Additional warning signs may include the following:

• prevent you from attending work or school
• threaten to hurt or kill your pets
• take your money or refuse to give you money
• threaten to kill you
• threaten suicide

It you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you may be in an abusive relationship.

Who are the Victims of Domestic Violence?

Although men can be abused, domestic violence is primarily a crime against women, and women account for 85% of all victims. It affects people of all ages, races, cultures, countries and religions. You are not to blame and you are not alone - millions of women are abused by their partners every year. Help is available in Connecticut by calling 1-(888)-774-2900 or, outside of Connecticut, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−(800)−799−SAFE (7233) or TTY 1−(800)−787−3224

Are you an Abuser?

The National Domestic Violence Hotline asks you to think about whether or not you are abusing someone else by examining these behaviors:

• Calling bad names or putting someone down
• Shouting and cursing
• Hitting, slapping and/or pushing
• Making threats of any kind
• Jealously and suspicion
• Keeping someone away from family and friends
• Throwing things around the house

Go to http://www.ndvh.org/is-this-abuse/are-you-abusing-2/ for helpful information about what you can do if you, or someone you know, is abusing someone else or call 1−(800)−799−SAFE (7233) or TTY 1−(800)−787−3224.

Services that can Help

CCCC provides risk assessment, safety planning, crisis counseling and court accompaniment to victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, robbery, assault and hate and bias crimes. This is a partnership with the New Haven and East Haven Departments of Police Services, funded by the CT Office of Victim Services. Services are also available in West Haven and Hamden, CT For more information call the Neighborhood Victim Advocacy Program at (203) 789-1425 x0.

Domestic Violence Services (DVS) of Greater New Haven, a program of Birmingham Group Health Services, Inc. helps thousands of victims of domestic violence every year, in a wide variety of ways. All services are free and confidential. Call the DVS hotline at (203) - 789-8104 or the state-wide hotline at 1- (888) 774-2900.

www.dvsgnh.org

CT Office of Victim Services
www.jud.ct.gov/crimevictim/

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Parenting Education

Parenting Education teaches parents of infants, children and teens successful strategies to raise healthy, happy and competent young people. By increasing knowledge and confidence, parenting education can strengthen families and ultimately, communities.

CCCC is a member of the Connecticut Parenting Education Network (CT-PEN), working to expand the knowledge of Best Practices in parenting education. All CCCC Parent Educators are trained and certified in the Parents As Teachers model which uses an evidence-based curriculum to

• Increase parent knowledge of early childhood development and improve parenting practices
• Provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues
• Prevent child abuse and neglect
• Increase children's school readiness and school success

For information about a parenting education program in Connecticut, call Infoline at 211, your town's department of Adult Education or local Family Resource Center.

www.ctparenting.com

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Healthy Eating

At a recent CCCC Staff Meeting, we held a quick Suggestion Circle to get easy ideas for healthy eating. Here are some of the suggestions:

• Farmer’s Market takes EBT cards for payment
• Limit junk food and each time you have a treat, balance it with something healthy
• Buy in bulk to save money and portion it out in zip lock bags
• Begin to exchange some of the processed foods with healthier choices
• Read the labels for the nutritional value and the amount of salt the food contains
• When reading the label, notice how many servings are contained in the package
• Replace artificial juices with real orange or apple juice or better yet, drink water (children age one and older)
• When preparing a baby formula, follow the directions carefully - too much water can result in a rare condition known as water intoxication
• Angel Food Network has a price of about $30-35 a month and you receive a box of a variety of foods (http://www.angelfoodministries.com/)
• Have dinner together as a family
• Get a simple recipe and make dinner as a family
• Puree vegetables into snacks and baked goods and use lots of spices
• Increase the activity level in families
• Always carry fruit with you
• Stick with portion control like the size of your fist
• Children eat by example – start their lives with healthy foods, i.e. no sodas
• Popcorn is a good snack for older children and adults. Instead of butter or salt, flavor it with grated parmesan cheese or spices

For more information about healthy eating go to healthy eating

Child Development

There are many theories of child development but broad agreement that healthy child development, the biological and psychological changes from prenatal through adolescence, is necessary for the optimal development of children and a productive society. Understanding the cognitive, emotional, social and educational development of children is necessary to meet their developmental needs and help them grow into healthy, confident and competent adults.

We are also learning much more about children's brain development. We know that the nerve cells in the brain are like a group of unconnected electrical wires. During the early years of life, these wires connect at a very fast pace, facilitated by activities such as singing to your child, rocking, holding, talking and reading. For example, babies of parents who talk to them have better language skills and know significantly more words than babies of parents who seldom talk to them. Healthy brain development is really all about the interactions between children and their parents or caretakers.

For more information about child development, activities for parents and children, and answers to your questions, visit the following web sites:

www.ctparenting.com

www.take5parenting.com

www.bornlearning.org

The Importance of Play in Child Development

Play has been described by some as the work of childhood. Experts agree that it is vitally important to healthy child development. Play helps children understand and gain mastery over their universe. Play helps build self-esteem, social skills, fosters language development, stimulates creativity and imagination and develops fine and large motor skills. According to the Parents as Teachers National Center (PAT) play also helps your child learn self-regulation.

Self-regulation refers to child’s ability to focus attention and control his behavior. By the time a child enters school he must understand what is asked of him in a given situation, monitor his own behavior to see if it matches, and maintain or change what he is doing based on his evaluation. Self-regulation allows a child to stay focused, pay attention to the teacher, and initiate productive activities.

Parents can help children develop self-regulation through play. Parents as Teachers (PAT) state that playtime is an excellent opportunity to build your relationship with your child while helping him regulate his behavior. Since children have an innate desire to play they will be motivated to focus their attention and continue behaviors that allow the play to continue.

PAT encourage parents to model language for their child to use during playtime. Using words to describe what your child is doing helps him to make a connection between his actions and words. In time he will be using “self-talk” to help control his behavior. As language and emotional development progress you can encourage him to use his words to express feelings instead of acting on them.

According to PAT, when children begin to pretend they have very simple scripts. When you join in play with your child you can help him to extend his play by suggesting new roles or new uses for play materials. Role playing helps a child learn to conform his behavior to the role and increase his self-regulation. As your child progresses to playing board games or playground games, keep games rules simple, be patient as you model following the rules for your child and don’t be surprised if he wants to change the rules in his favor.

Playing with your child daily not only helps you bond with your child but it also teaches your child self-control, attention to task and helps to prepare him for success in school. PAT encourages all parents to play with your child daily and watch his self-regulation grow!

Information for this article was adapted from the Parents As Teachers National Center, Inc. 2001 Newsletter.

Guidelines for Children’s Use of Electronic Media

According to the Parents as Teachers National Center too much television watching, regardless of its contents, is not good for young children. When a child is watching TV, she is not involved in other activities that are important for brain and body development. Young children need to move, manipulate, smell, touch, and repeat as they learn. Studies have found that watching television does not increase attention, promote social skills or foster creative play. Parents as Teachers recommend the following guidelines for children’s use of electronic media:

• Completely avoid shows, movies and games that have violent or sexual content
• Watch TV with your child and discuss the program
• Limit the time your child watches or uses electronic media every day
• Be a media role model by limiting your use of electronic media
• Watch shows with adult content when your child is not in the room
• Emphasize what your child could do besides use electronic media
• Remove Televisions and computers from your child’s bedroom to create a “media free zone”

Teach your child to look for the purpose and message in electronic media, and make good choices for himself/herself.

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Community Resources

www.uwgnh.org

www.communityservicesnetwork.org

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