Knowledge is Power

from Inspire Coastal Bend Magazine Business Mar/Apr 2020

This Land is Our Land

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER April is Child Abuse Awareness Month. Here’s how you can help children in the Coastal Bend community. By: SAMANTHA KOEPP-STEMPLINGER

ccording to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, an estimated 62 percent of adults surveyed across 23 states reported that they had experienced one ACE during childhood, and nearly one-quarter reported that they had experienced three or more ACEs. These exposures can disrupt healthy brain development, affect social development, compromise immune systems and can lead to substance misuse and other unhealthy coping behaviors. ACEs, otherwise known as Adverse Childhood Experiences, happen when children under the age of 18 are exposed to a traumatic event. These experiences include: A

• Neglect • Emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse • Emotional and/or physical household challenges • Mother treated violently • Substance abuse • Mental illness • Separation/divorce • Incarcerated household member

(Source: https://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/phl/resource_center_infographic.html)

The significance of ACEs is that the way children view the world and their place in it begins with the treatment they receive from their caregivers, those responsible for their development and well-being, as well as the conditions to which they are exposed. These relationships and experiences are the basis for which children form their perception of themselves, and they determine how children navigate through the relationships cultivated throughout their lifetime.

Such trauma at an early age may not only affect emotional development, but also influence behavior and impact physical health. Even more alarming is that a higher number of ACEs can predispose an individual to a reduction in

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IT IS EASIER TO BUILD STRONG CHILDREN THAN TO REPAIR BROKEN MEN.” “

Please consider sharing opportunities for CASA of the Coastal Bend to provide presentations to your faith group, workplace, civic groups, homeowners’ association and/or group of friends. You can also invite others to attend 45-minute, non-committal information sessions held at the CASA office, 2602 Prescott, every Wednesday at 12 p.m. For more information, contact Diana at 361-884-2272 or diana@coastalbendcasa.org, or see more information online at www.coastalbendcasa.org or on Facebook (@coastalbendcasa).

46 I N S P I R E COASTALB E N DMAG.COM PHOTOS COURTESY OF CASA

life expectancy due to being more susceptible to falling victim to stress-related disease and engaging in detrimental behaviors.

While we know that change in thinking and habits is possible, it is significantly more challenging once one reaches adulthood. Ideally, children will grow up in safe, stable and nurturing environments with people they feel loved by, and who have their best interests in mind. The hundreds of children from the Coastal Bend placed in foster care due to abuse and neglect demonstrate that an ideal upbringing can be a far or near to impossible reach for some children.

April is Child Abuse Awareness month. Knowing there are children in our community suffering at the hands of those who should protect them is vital in beginning to understand what has become an epidemic in our community. Prevention is key in recognizing when families need help and awareness of ways to provide support. Connecting families to services offered by local agencies can reduce stress factors, and in doing so,

prevent abuse and neglect from occurring.

However, if a child is in harm or suspected to be in harm, contact the authorities: Call the Texas Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400, or, if a child is in immediate danger, call 911. The victims of child abuse and neglect are not invisible children. These children are your neighbors, they are friends of children within your family and they are also children who will be part of determining the landscape of tomorrow – and they need your help today. There are many opportunities to support these youth when you become involved with an agency that provides services to them. On April 2, 2020, the Coastal Bend is invited to attend the Ringing of the Bells event to learn more about some of the local child welfare agencies along with opportunities to help these children in crisis. CASA of the Coastal Bend is hosting the event at their offices, located at 2602 Prescott, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Local businesses will offer refreshments, while The HeArt Gallery, presented by Grande Communications, will display artwork by foster youth, available for purchase in a silent auction that benefits recruiting and training Court Appointed Special Advocates of the Coastal Bend.

A pinwheel garden will display hundreds of pinwheels, each representing a child from the Coastal Bend who was in foster care during 2019. As stated by abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” How can you contribute to help strengthen the lives of children within our community? Every child has a chance – it’s you.