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If you logged onto Facebook the last week of March you would likely have seen many of your friends changing their profile picture to a symbol of equality in support of same sex marriage. In fact, many Facebook newsfeeds were bombarded with shared images and comments emphatic about gay couples deserving the same rights afforded to heterosexual couples. The passion behind this campaign is inspiring.
Now that April has arrived, here is a gentle reminder that it is Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness month and a perfect time to blow up social media with equally passionate advocacy for the most innocent among us.
Gay adults and those who support them have a very strong voice and can easily fight for their cause. Babies and children have absolutely no way to stand up for themselves. They cannot tell the world that they are being beaten, burned, molested, raped, degraded, abandoned, starved and killed by the very people who are supposed to love and nurture them.
Little ones do not yet understand that repeatedly being left alone in a crib for hours, crying, dirty and hungry, while their mommy and daddy smoke pot, will cause them lifelong emotional suffering. Or that being hit with belts and thrown against walls while getting cursed at will dramatically raise their chances of going to jail, dropping out of school, doing drugs, having babies as teens and abusing their own children.
Children cannot write to their elected officials asking for a shift in funding priorities, with more dollars going toward evidenced-based prevention programs like home visiting. They don’t know the latest estimate that child abuse cost taxpayers $80 billion last year.
Babies cannot walk in protests holding signs that say, “Is the right to have children more important than my right to loving parents?” or “Child abuse affects everyone.”
They cannot speak for themselves, but you can.
Every adult can take a little time this month to do something. Some options include:
♦ Participate in the Million March Against Child Abuse, April 22, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. near Civic Plaza.
♦ Attend the New Mexico Child Abuse Prevention Partnership’s Precious Gems Gala on April 20. See details at nmcapp.unm.edu to purchase tickets or donate.
♦ Write or call elected officials and ask them to make child abuse prevention a priority by increasing funding to proven effective prevention programs.
♦ Volunteer for the New Mexico Child Abuse Citizen Review Board or the Court Appointed Special Advocates program to serve as a voice for maltreated children and for an eye-opening educational experience.
♦ Teach your children to tell you if a friend or classmate has disclosed abuse or neglect, or when to suspect it. For more info go to preventchildabuse.org
♦ Google “How to prevent child abuse” and find a way that works for you.
Like civil rights, gun control and gay marriage, enough people have to make enough noise to create meaningful change. Let’s do more than change our profile pics.
