Find Out What You Can Do to Mark Child Abuse Prevention Month in April

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Child Abuse Prevention Month takes place in April, just a few weeks from now. This year, the observance will take on even greater meaning because of the dramatic, nationwide impact of the allegations of child abuse and failure to report the abuse surrounding Penn State and Jerry Sandusky. "We hope communities throughout Pennsylvania will see this as an opportunity to offer a positive message about how to combat child abuse," said Angela Liddle, executive director of the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance (PFSA).

PFSA provides an easy-to-read flier called "What Can I Do to Prevent Child Abuse?" Liddle said, "This flier offers some simple yet highly effective suggestions that citizens, parents, and neighborhood leaders can use to make sure the problem of child abuse is being discussed and addressed in our cities and towns."

The ideas range from wearing blue ribbons to symbolize concern about child abuse to supporting safe child care through clubs and churches to doing more to build your neighborhood into an extended family that watches out for kids.

"What Can I Do to Prevent Child Abuse?" and other information is available for the asking. Just call PFSA at (717) 238‐0937 or toll-free in Pennsylvania at 1-800-448-4906, or contact PFSA online at www.pa-fsa.org.

"We've seen a terrible tragedy unfold with the multiple allegations of child abuse filed against Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, an event that should make us more aware than ever of how big and how serious the problem of child abuse is," Liddle said. "In the past this kind of problem has been largely hidden from view. It was the sort of thing people didn't talk about. Now that we're talking about it out in the open, we need to help each other deal with it. We need to remember the victims. PFSA is here to assist."

PFSA is Pennsylvania's leading provider of training to mandated reporters on how to spot suspected child abuse and neglect and how to make sure it's properly reported. Mandated reporters are professionals such as doctors, teachers, and social workers who have regular contact with children and have a legal duty to report abuse.

PFSA serves as the Pennsylvania sponsor of The Front Porch Project®, a community-based training initiative that educates the general public about how to protect children from abuse, and also works with more than 50 affiliate agencies across the state to provide information, educational materials, and programs that teach and support good parenting practices.

Pennsylvania's formal observance of Child Abuse Prevention Month will begin April 3 with the PFSA-sponsored "Protecting PA Kids, Preventing Abuse" annual breakfast at the Harrisburg Hilton.

Regina Brett, author of The New York Times best-seller God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours, will be the keynote speaker.  Brett will share the lessons she learned as a child growing up in a family with 11 children, as a single parent, and as a cancer survivor.

Tickets are available online at www.pa-fsa.org or by calling (717) 238‐0937.

Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance
Protecting children from abuse
Training for professionals
Support for families
Education for communities

SOURCE PA Family Support Alliance