Beating the stigma of child abuse

As a member of the Linn County Community Partnership for Protecting Children, it is exhilarating to come together with other human services and health care professionals to collaborate so that we can best meet the needs of vulnerable children and adults in our community. In April, we capitalize on National Child Abuse Prevention Month to turn our intention toward promoting the meaning of adverse childhood experiences and the ways to reduce the risks of child abuse and neglect.

We recognize that talking about child abuse, even under the theme of prevention, is not an easy endeavor. As it turns out, people really are not all that eager to talk about abuse, nor the mental illnesses, addiction, divorce, domestic violence, and other traumatic experiences that often surround a child’s experience of abuse. I must talk about it, because these traumas are the heart of the matter when individuals come to see me for therapy. To create a society where adverse childhood experiences are an anomaly instead of a norm, we have to keep talking about it on a community scale.

Experiences of trauma trigger each of us, whether we are witnesses of trauma or direct victims. Hearing about child abuse in general often triggers many of us to feel fear, shame, and anger. Maybe we are fearful remembering our own past abuse. Or maybe we translate those feelings of fear and anger into condemnation of “those people” who we think fit the category of child abuser. Understanding your own reasons for turning away from the information about child abuse could be the first step toward recognizing your role in prevention for kids in your community.

Understanding that child abuse and neglect are broad terms for an interplay of factors that create high risk situations to occur, means that we can see the whole big picture. That big picture includes racism, poverty, domestic violence, mental illness, addiction, discrimination, and stigma. Stigma about the factors that make families vulnerable to neglect and abuse gets in the way of doing something about it.

So many risk factors can be reduced, mitigated, and even eliminated. Support programs for parents with young children identify and mitigate these risk factors. Access to quality behavioral health care for parents and children also mitigates the risk factors. Equal participation in a community through schools, churches, parks, and community events mitigate the risk factors. The happy reality is that we already have many existing resources to deploy.

For more information on how you can help to beat stigma and build a resilient community where child abuse rarely occurs, please visit Iowa’s Community Partnership for Protecting Children at https://dhs.iowa.gov/child-welfare/CPPCfamilies, Prevent Child Abuse Iowa at pcaiowa.org, and Iowaaces360.org.

Wendy Stokesbary is a mental health provider with experience working with children and caretakers involved in the child protection system.