Child abuse and neglect is one of those topics that is very difficult to talk about or acknowledge. As a society, we steer away from such complex issues, leaving them to remain in the dark and untouched. Unfortunately, silence does not stop the abuse and neglect. Rather, silence provides an environment that encourages its growth.
Each year, thousands of Alaska children experience or are at risk of experiencing child abuse and neglect. Many of us feel paralyzed by the size and complexity of this epidemic. However, in the month of April, we have the opportunity to overcome this feeling. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, a nationwide effort to raise public awareness about and take effective steps to prevent child abuse and neglect.
This year, we are promoting one of the five Strengthening Families Protective Factors: parent resiliency. One of the toughest jobs out there is being a parent. Parents are faced with stressors on a daily basis. A baby who won't stop crying. Struggling with depression. Financial uncertainty. All of these can cause a parent to snap.
We can never rid the world of stressors, but we can help people cope with them. Researchers in the field have concluded that how a parent responds to stressors is much more important than the stressor itself, in terms of how it affects families. If parents can manage stress and function well in the face of challenges, adversity and trauma, the whole family will weather the situation far better. That ability to manage stress is called resilience.
When parents are resilient, when they can manage their reactions to stressors in their lives, they feel better and can provide more nurturing attention to their child. Children who receive nurturing attention and develop secure emotional attachments with their parents are better equipped to develop their own internal resilience in the face of stress.
Resilience is something we develop and learn over time when we are offered strong supports as children, teens and adults. How can parents develop resilience? Or more importantly how can we help parents build the resilience they need?
Another step we can all take is starting conversations about what it takes to ensure all children live in safe, stable and nurturing environments and what we can do to make this a reality. Let your voices be heard. The recent performance of the play "Our Voices will be Heard" by Vera Starbard is a great demonstration of the power of conversation -- of breaking the silence about child abuse and moving toward healing for the next generation. In April, you will see people wearing blue to represent their commitment to ending child abuse and neglect. Join them and begin to share the information you learned here with your friends, coworkers and neighbors. With each conversation about child abuse and neglect, we begin to shed light on the darkness and bring a very important issue to the forefront.
Both Alaska Children's Trust and Best Beginnings have more information online about how you can support parents or get support as a parent -- alaskachildrenstrust.org and bestbeginningsalaska.org.
Trevor Storrs is executive director of the Alaska Children's Trust. Abbe Hensley is executive director of Best Beginnings.
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