Child welfare agencies can only step in and help children after they’ve received reports from the community, said Susan Verrill.
“It’s really important we raise awareness within the community because child abuse is still there, it’s still occurring,” said the director of child welfare for Dilico Anishinabek Family Care.
“The community is very important in the prevention of child abuse because the community is the people who are going to report child abuse to us so we can deal with it.”
Dilico and the Children’s Aid Society of the District of Thunder Bay kicked off their annual Step Up campaign Friday morning. The campaign runs through the month of October – child abuse prevention month.
People can show their support for Step Up by wearing and handing out purple ribbons and bracelets and also by wearing purple. The ribbon is a reminder child abuse and neglect is a continuing issue and when left unaddressed can have devastating effects.
CAS executive director Rob Richardson said child abuse prevention month has been an annual event for nearly 25 years and it’s designed to bring attention to this significant issue.
“Children’s Aid Society and Dilico staffs are relatively small in numbers,” he said. “We really do need the support of the community to help us identify situations, to support families, to support children who unfortunately are caught in those kinds of circumstances.”
It’s absolutely critical attention is focused on child abuse as the children in abusive situations suffer greatly, he added, noting he believes that no parent wakes up in the morning with the intention of being an abusive parent.
“I think parents want to do a good job and certainly the Children’s Aid Society and Dilico Anishinabek Family Care would want to support that,” Richardson said. “No child should have to grow up fearing for their safety or any of the kind of things that unfortunately are the kind of cases the Children’s Aid Society often sees.”
To kick off this year’s campaign, CAS and Dilico donated $2,000 to the Thunder Bay District Triple P parenting program for additional trainers.
The program helps parents by providing them with different skills to enhance their parenting skills, said Richardson.
“Dilico and ourselves are not saying parents are inadequate but we recognize it’s a difficult and demanding job and there are just so many challenges for people who are parents and so many things to be concerned about,” he said.
