June 26, 2023
Q&A on Protecting Children from Abuse and Helping Families During COVID-19
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. While initial child abuse prevention isn't part of the Family First Act's scope, the focus on strengthening families is definitely part of Georgia's broader Blueprint for Family First.
This month, we're looking at work to support a family-focused philosophy throughout the state in a Q&A with Julia Neighbors, Director of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, a state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America.
Julia spoke with the Family First team about the factors that protect children from abuse so they can grow up safely with their families, and about how to help families even as the COVID-19 pandemic erodes some of those protective factors.
Q: What are some of the key research findings about how we can protect children from abuse and neglect?
Julia: The Centers for Disease Control recommend strategies based on the best available evidence to help prevent child abuse and neglect that include:
Strengthening economic supports to families;
Changing social norms to support parents and positive parenting;
Providing quality care and education early in life;
Enhancing parenting skills to promote healthy child development; and
Intervening to lessen harms and prevent future risk.
These strategies focus on preventing child abuse and neglect from happening in the first place, thus strengthening families and reducing the potential need “downstream” for interventions. The strategies also encompass approaches to lessen the immediate and long-term harms of child abuse and neglect.
PCA Georgia and the Prevention and Community Support Section of the Division of Family and Children Services used the CDC’s recommendations as a roadmap to update our state’s Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Plan, which has not been updated since 1993. Updating it involved 25 planning sessions across the 14 Division regions as well as collecting feedback with two statewide surveys.
The completed plan, which will be released in the coming months, includes six strategic objectives towards reducing the rates of child maltreatment in Georgia as well as improving overall child well-being. While it doesn’t technically fall under the Family First Act work, the plan is very much part of the state’s focus on prevention and supporting families as our primary goals.
Q: The COVID-19 pandemic and the need to avoid contact with others challenges some of the factors that we know can help protect children from abuse, like supportive family environments and contact with caring adults outside the family. What are some ways families can maintain those connections while also staying healthy?
Julia: During this time of social distancing, or as we prefer to call it, physical distancing, it is more important than ever to maintain social connections.
Whether video chatting with grandparents, participating in a virtual gathering of friends, calling your neighbors to check-in or spending more time together with the people you live with, we all need to continue supporting each other during this stressful time.
Children also need social connections to help manage their anxiety and stress. Try setting up a Facebook or virtual playgroup for older children. For younger children, go outside for a walk and point out the sights you see.
Q: How are organizations and workers statewide responding to the pressure the pandemic is putting on some of the other factors that can protect children from abuse, like challenges to parents’ resilience to stress, ability to provide for basic needs and access to work?
Julia: Child and family-serving organizations are scrambling to identify ways to support families during these unprecedented times. Information sharing between organizations seems to be the key here to address this “new normal.” You can find more resources related to supporting families during the COVID-19 pandemic on the PCA COVID-19 webpage
The Successful Parenting During the Coronavirus Pandemic resource produced by the Division’s Prevention Section with support from PCA Georgia provides additional guidance. The following protective factors have been used for years to support parents and caregivers and are relevant now more than ever:
Parental resilience (Parents Can Bounce Back);
Social connections (Parents Have Friends);
Knowledge of parenting and child development (Parents Know Where to Turn for Help);
Concrete support in times of need (Parents Know Where to Turn for Help); and
Social and emotional competence of children (Children Learn How to Talk About and Handle Feelings).
For more information on protective factors, visit www.strengtheningfamiliesga.net
Neighbors is Director of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, a state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America. PCA Georgia provides statewide direction to build safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments to prevent child abuse and neglect and has over 20 local councils located throughout the state who advocate and implement prevention practices in their communities.
Prior to her work with PCA Georgia, she advocated for children and families through work in the nonprofit, private and public sectors for almost two decades. Her past experience includes working on the update to Georgia’s juvenile code, with court-appointed special advocates around Georgia, on community revitalization efforts, and as a senior attorney with the Fulton County Office of the Child Attorney.