One Week Left!

Photo courtesy of Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota

Only one week left! Please provide communities with the most innovative prevention programming possible by helping us reach our fundraising goal of $2,500. Please make a donation on our Causes page here that will directly benefit children and families nationwide.

Our basic obligation is to support the healthy development of our nation's children. Our responsibility is to be stewards of the next generation and, in doing so, be stewards of our entire future.

Now is the time for our nation to awaken to how we can provide every child with an equal opportunity for healthy growth and development. Everyone has a role to play in making children a priority. You can help by making a donation here. Remember, there is only one week left to help us reach our goal of raising $2,500!

Check it out. CWLA Analyzes How Budget Cuts Will Affect Children Through "These Cuts Won't Heal" Campaign.

FY 2011 federal budget negotiations compelled fellow National Movement for America's Children Founding Partner CWLA to launch a campaign to protect funding for programs serving vulnerable children and families. We invite you to learn more here about the way these programs are threatened and how weakened programs would undermine healthy child development and harm children and families. Visit the "These Cuts Won't Heal" website here to access program specific analysis and summaries of the recent budget battles.

Dr. Phil, Jessica Beagley, Healthy Child Development and the "Sniff Test."

Jessica Beagley from Anchorage, Alaska was charged with misdemeanor child abuse and neglect this week for her appearance on the Dr. Phil Show and the videotape she prepared that showed her disciplining her son with hot sauce. While we have commented on the use of hot sauce for discipline previously, and you can read that here, the case has taken a new twist this week because Jessica Beagley was not charged based on the form of discipline, but for preparing the video itself. We think this raises significant questions about the role and responsibility of media in the healthy development of children and in this vein, James M. Hmurovich, President & CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, not only commented on this aspect of the case in an interview with KTVA Alaska, which you can read here, but Prevent Child Abuse America also sent the below letter to the Dr. Phil Show. We are currently awaiting a response and will provide with an update when we receive one.


Dr. Phil Show
5482 Wilshire Boulevard #1902
Los Angeles, CA 90036

To Whom It May Concern,

I would like to personally commend the important work the Dr. Phil Show seeks to do on behalf of children and their families. It is clear to me that Dr. Phil enjoys a respected following who listens and seeks to learn from his guests and his personal insights.

My appreciation however does not extend to the show involving Jessica Beagley. The conviction of Jessica Beagley this week in Anchorage for misdemeanor child abuse even more strongly makes me want to ask how a segment like that could have made it to an audience. The form of discipline involved does not have a basis in research, the apparent parental motivation appears to be self-serving and does not consider the best interest of the child and quite frankly lacks any semblance of passing a “sniff test” for what should be approved as effective programming regarding children.

At Prevent Child Abuse America our position is that all people play some role in the healthy development of children. Research indicates that when adverse experiences happen in a child’s life they can result in life-long consequences, including chronic health problems, academic under-achieving, delinquent behavior, mental illness and substance abuse.

As a respected media program entrepreneur, I applaud your show’s overall education value; in this situation, I have to ask, what are the guidelines used by your producers that would allow such a video; why would a corporate sponsor be supportive of this type of show and what kind of oversight is provided to the producers to ensure this type of segment is not allowed again? Needless to say, I wonder why people would ever want to see something like this.

Finally, in light of the behavior displayed in this video we recommend that you review the mandatory child abuse and neglect reporting requirements for the state of California to make sure you are in compliance and train relevant staff

I look forward to speaking further with you about this story and the role you can play in positively impacting the lives of nation’s children. Thank you for your time and someone from Prevent Child Abuse America will follow-up with you next Friday, September 2, if I have not connected with you by then.

Sincerely,

James M. Hmurovich, President & CEO

Prevent Child Abuse America

National Lieutenant Governors' Association Resolution on Home Visiting.

We applaud the National Lieutenant Governors Association for their support of evidence-based early childhood home visiting services. At their annual meeting in July, the NLGA approved the bipartisan Resolution in Support of Improving the Quality of and Expanding Access to Voluntary State Home Visiting Programs. The full resolution is available here. We thank the sponsors of the Resolution, Lt. Governor Anthony Brown (MD) and Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy (NE), as well as co-sponsors Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts (RI), Governor Kim Reynolds (IA), Lt. Governor Matt Michels (SD), Lt. Governor Gregory Francis (USVI), and Lt. Governor Greg Bell (UT). We would add, that we think this is great for kids, we are very excited about it, and we hope you will repost this wherever you repost things.

Save the Date: Awaken to Change - The National Conference for America's Children. Jacksonville, Florida. October 12-15, 2012.

We just want to be sure you Save the Date for the 2012 Prevent Child Abuse America National Conference: Awaken to Change - The National Conference for America's Children, which will be held in Jacksonville, Florida, October 12-15, 2012. We look forward to seeing you there, for more information please feel to read our conference press release here, and details regarding registration are coming soon. Thanks.

Help us serve families better!

Healthy Families America, our signature prevention program, provides a healthy start for families and their children from the prenatal period to the early years of life. As a federally recognized program, Healthy Families America is expanding faster than ever into communities nationwide. In order to provide families with the best services possible, we need your help. Through our Causes page we are asking you to help us raise $2,500 by Labor Day Weekend to keep our staff well-trained, well-informed, and ready to accommodate the needs of families seeking services. We believe we all have a responsibility for the children in our country and therefore, our country’s future. With the support of this caring community, we can ensure families have access to the support they need to provide children with nurturing care essential to leading a healthy and productive life. So, please do visit our Causes page here, and please consider re-posting this message on your blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter streams.

Verizon Strives To End The Cycle Of Violence With Prevent Child Abuse America

Prevent Child Abuse America receives $20,000 Verizon Foundation Grant to Support Agency's Programs, Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO, IL (August 22, 2011) — Abuse survivors in the Chicago area will benefit from a $20,000 donation made by Verizon Wireless to Prevent Child Abuse America. The Verizon Foundation grant will help fund vital services to prevent child abuse, and stop the cycle of violence in the Chicago area.

"Verizon is dedicated to supporting organizations like Prevent Child Abuse America that help stop violence at home," said T.J. Fox, President, Wisconsin/Illinois Region, Verizon Wireless. "We applaud Prevent Child Abuse America's important contribution to our community to raise awareness of this pervasive problem and to end the cycle of violence."

The grant was made possible through the Verizon Foundation, which uses financial, human and technological resources to improve communities and address social issues such as education, domestic violence prevention and family safety. Since 2004, the Foundation has invested nearly $490 million back into communities nationwide.

"We truly value Verizon Wireless' dedication and long time commitment to prevent child abuse and neglect from occurring in the first place,” said Jim Hmurovich, President & CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America. “This donation will help us continue our mission to not only prevent child abuse and neglect but hopefully decrease one of the contributing causes that leads to domestic violence".

Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine Program

Verizon also puts the nation’s most reliable wireless network to work in the community through its award-winning HopeLine program. Through this program, Verizon collects no-longer-used wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any wireless service provider. These phones are then refurbished and sold, with the proceeds going to support local domestic violence shelters and programs. The program also provides domestic violence agencies with wireless phones and airtime for use by domestic violence victims to use as a lifeline. Phones that cannot be refurbished are recycled in an environmentally sound way under a zero-landfill policy.

Since 2001, HopeLine has collected more than 8 million phones; awarded more than $10 million in cash grants to prevention and awareness programs nationwide; and donated more than 106,000 HopeLine phones with 319 million minutes of airtime to victims, survivors and domestic violence organizations. Last year in Illinois alone, more than 36,000 phones were donated to the program, and more than $100,000 in cash grants helped survivors of domestic violence across the state.

For more information on HopeLine from Verizon and to learn how to donate a wireless phone, please visit here.

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About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest and most advanced 4G network and largest and most reliable 3G network, and serves more than 94 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 82,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit here. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library here.

For Stay in the know about Verizon Wireless news in the Illinois/Wisconsin Region follow @VZWCarolyn on Twitter here. For the latest network-related news, information and upgrades, follow @VZWNetwork on Twitter here.

Save the Date. 2011 Kick-Off For Kids. September 16, 2011.

Ticket information here.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation annual KIDS COUNT Data Book and economic well-being for low income children and families.

According to data released by The Annie E. Casey Foundation in its annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, over the last decade there has been a significant decline in economic well-being for low income children and families. The official child poverty rate, which is a conservative measure of economic hardship, increased 18 percent between 2000 and 2009, essentially returning to the same level as the early 1990s. This increase means that 2.4 million more children are living below the federal poverty line. Data also reveals the impact of the job and foreclosure crisis on children. In 2010, 11 percent of children had at least one unemployed parent and 4 percent have been affected by foreclosure since 2007. To learn more about the 2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book please go here.

2011 Working Mother Best Companies for Kids and the National Strategy for America's Children.

Prevent Child Abuse America wants to take a moment to salute the ten companies identified by Working Mother as the best companies for kids. The list of companies can be found below, and have been included for offering a variety of family and kid friendly policies ranging from child care to college coaching. We are interested in whether this will challenge others to identify similar business policies that help children, their families and the communities they live in achieve equal opportunities for healthy growth and development; and over at the National Movement for America's Children site, click here, we are wondering what types of policies you would recommend we look at including in the National Strategy for America's Children? Please visit the site, if you haven't signed-up, please do and please let us know what you think.

(1) Abbott

(2) Bank of America

(3) Citi

(4) Discovery Communications

(5) HCA Virginia Health-System Richmond Market

(6) Mastercard Worldwide

(7) Prudential Financial

(8) SC Johnson

(9) University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics

(10) WellStar Healthy System

Prevent Child Abuse America, the National Movement for America's Children and MSNBC's "A Stronger America: Making the Grade."

Prevent Child Abuse America and the Movement for America's Children were excited to participate in MSNBC's national conversation on education and child development as part of the "A Stronger America" series this past Sunday. To learn more please take a look here, then here.

Thank you for joining with thousands of other American’s to sign the pledge supporting the Movement for America’s Children!

Now that you are part of the Movement, we need your input into the national strategy we are developing to provide every child with the opportunity for healthy growth and development.

You can join the discussion here about the policies, actions and innovative ideas that will be included the national strategy we will be launching in November. We all benefit from the healthy development of our children, so we all should have a voice in the strategy to provide that healthy development. You can also promote the Movement on your website, Facebook or other social media pages by using Movement banners and badges, available here.

Or you can email friends, family and your entire network, encouraging them to go here and sign the pledge!

Help us awaken the nation! The time is now!

Thank you.

Have you joined the Movement for America’s Children?

Sign the pledge and help us shape a national children’s strategy.

Thousands of Americans have already joined the Movement for America’s Children here, but we need every American to join the Movement! Have you signed the pledge? The pledge calls for citizens, businesses, government, faith leaders and communities across the country to join together in developing and delivering a national strategy to provide every child an opportunity for healthy growth and development.

Prevent Child Abuse America is a founding partner in the Movement, along with more than a dozen other child advocacy organizations. Together we are collecting the input of everyone with an interest in healthy child development so we can launch a true national strategy that reflects the entire nation’s hopes for our children. Check out Prevent Child Abuse America President & CEO Jim Hmurovich's column in Advertising Age here, which outlines this innovative approach to developing a national policy and action plan.

Sign the Pledge here and then join the discussion here about the policies, actions and innovative ideas that will be included the national strategy. We all benefit from the healthy development of our children, so we all should have a voice in the strategy to provide that healthy development.

Click here to sign the pledge today!

Save the Date. 2011 Kick-Off For Kids. September 16, 2011.

Ticket information here.