4/15/2017
The 2017 theme is "Building Community, Building Hope" as strong communities that are supportive of families play a large role in preventing child abuse by increasing protective factors such as social connections, nurturing, and attachment. Protective factors are conditions or attributes of individuals, families, and communities that reduce risk and can serve as buffers, helping parents to find resources that allow them to parent effectively, even under stress.
Child abuse and neglect are a global crisis, costing countries in East Asia and the Pacific an estimated $209 billion a year, equivalent to 2 percent of the region's GDP. Closer to home, the CDC has found the total lifetime estimated financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect) is approximately $124 billion in the U.S. The total estimated costs associated with one year of substantiated cases of child abuse is $301.6 million in San Francisco alone. Given significant under-reporting of child abuse, the total economic cost could be as high as $5.6 billion in San Francisco.
Join us in advocating for children and helping raise awareness of the epidemic of child abuse by supporting organizations such as the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children, Darkness to Light, National Children's Alliance, and Feminist Majority Foundation. For more information on supporting child advocacy see this new report on the key characteristics and attributes of high-performing Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs). LEARN MORE