April is National Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Domestic Violence Children’s Counselor with Western Illinois Regional Council, Kearra, reports being able to identify signs of possible abuse; withdrawal, changes in school performance, or changes in behavior, are very important for prevention awareness:
“A lot of things that children go through, they don’t even know that they are experiencing it because they don’t know what it is. That is what we do at our facility, we go out into the community and we teach people the signs of abuse or signs of neglect. From the American Society of Positive Care for Children, 4.276 million children maltreated referral reports were received in 2022 and it said only 3 million of those children received a response to that. As a community and as an agency, we want to get out in the community and bring prevention and bring awareness to what child abuse is and let children know it is okay to tell people what they experienced.”
Abuse can happen to anyone at any age. Free and confidential services to anyone that may be experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, or any other form of abuse, can be received through the Western Illinois Regional Council crisis hotline, 309-837-5555.
