Child-care providers are on the front line of defense against child abuse and neglect, experts say, and need to be trained to identify and report signs of mistreatment.
That’s why an S.C. nonprofit group and other organizations statewide are participating this summer in a national project to help child-care providers curb the problem.
Georgetown County First Steps, a branch of a statewide nonprofit group whose goal is to prepare children for school, will likely work with Grand Strand day cares starting in September to provide day-care workers with training in identifying signs of abuse and neglect.
“We’re trying to identify problems early on, not only working with the parents, but working with child-care providers because they’re the ones who spend an awful lot of time with these children,” said Pamela Peterson, program coordinator with First Steps of Georgetown County.
State and local data from across the Grand Strand and Brunswick County, N.C., show that in some areas, the number of reports of abuse and neglect are shrinking while the number of confirmed cases has increased.
Child abuse — physically, sexually or psychologically harming a child younger than 18 — and child neglect — not meeting a child’s needs — are still far too common, reports show.
“You can help a child, or you can hurt a child. It starts right here at the early beginning. These are the critical years for our young children,” said Lillian Reid, director of the Pawleys Island Civic Club Child Care Center, who plans to participate in the project.
The project — started by a nonprofit called Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families — recently expanded from 12 states to 18 states, including South Carolina. It is designed to teach child-care providers how to recognize and deal with abuse or neglect.
They’ll learn to build relationships with families, respond supportively to troubled families and understand the effects of abuse on a young child’s emotional, social and brain development.
Groups statewide — including the state Department of Social Services, Prevent Child Abuse South Carolina and S.C. First Steps — received training this summer to teach child-care providers about abuse and neglect.
“The saying, ‘Everything I know, I learned in kindergarten,’ it’s not that you actually learned everything you know. Your brain developed and got ready to learn. Abuse and neglect can really have a detrimental effect on the developing brain,” Peterson said.
Some parents like that their day cares will get the lessons. The training also could help parents find out whether their children are being abused by someone else, said Jackie Johnson, who has two daughters who attend the Pawleys Island child-care center.
“We’re not aware of things sometimes when our kids go to other people’s houses,” she said.
Full text available at The State
- Home |
- About Us |
- NACCRRA.org