Public Awareness & Creating Supportive Communities

Public awareness can be part of an overall approach to preventing child abuse and neglect. Find resources and information on sharing a message and educating the public, making an economic case for prevention, and creating community support and partnerships to prevent child abuse and neglect.

• Developing an effective message
• Tools for sharing your message
• Making an economic case
• Public awareness activities and programs
• Building community support
• Preventing community violence
• Social media

Child Welfare Information Gateway

• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect
• Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect
• Promoting Child & Family Well-Being
• Public Awareness & Creating Supportive Communities
• Prevention Programs
• Developing & Sustaining Prevention Programs
• Evidence-Based Practice
• Evaluating Prevention Programs

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ROGERS COUNTY, Oklahoma – Rogers County Deputies arrested a Chelsea man accused of abusing his stepchildren. The Department of Human Services said it found Johnathon Lee’s four-year-old stepson locked in a wire dog cage. DHS removed three kids from the home, and now both the stepfather and the mother are in jail. An affidavit said Johnathon Lee, 31, admitted putting the boy in the cage to sleep overnight, during nap time and for discipline, for at least three weeks. READ MORE HERE

Police say teen used handgun, shotgun, knife and machete to kill family

IDAHO –  A 14-year-old has been arrested on two counts of first-degree murder in Coeur d’Alene in the killing of his father and younger brother. The two were shot and killed Monday night in a home in the 1300 block of North First Street and police arrested the juvenile suspect in that shooting shortly after 9:30 p.m. Kootenai County Jail records show the teen was arrested at the same address as the shooting. READ MORE HERE

Parents kept starving 5-year-old son in a locked closet under the stairs

A father and pregnant stepmother have been arrested after they allegedly kept their five-year-old son locked under the stairs.  Police discovered a locked closet with a mattress after being called to a home following a disturbance last Thursday between Bradley Bleimeyer, 24, and his 16-year-old stepson. The teenager had allegedly objected to his younger stepbrother being kept under the stairs at the home in Spring, Harris County, Texas. READ MORE HERE

Three deaths in the UK have been linked to NekNomination
Youngest victim of Facebook drinking craze… a girl of NINE: Vodka and whisky cocktail puts her in hospital

A girl aged nine has become the youngest victim of the NekNomination drinking craze (in the U.S. it has been called the 24-hour drinking challenge). Rhiannon Scully was hospitalized after downing a cocktail of vodka and whisky, egged on by her friends who had seen similar stunts on Facebook. She was found riding home ‘all over the place’ on her electric scooter and still in her school uniform by her horrified mother, who picked her up and called  an ambulance. Rhiannon later had to have her stomach pumped and was monitored overnight in hospital. READ MORE HERE

Personal Stories, Advice, and Support

NOTE: These stories may contain mature content, as flagged by the community. Please click away if you do not want to see this content, or if you are not of age. 

He Did It . 

I was only 11 when this started happening . I was starting 5th grade. one night while sleeping with my little sister i wake up. i see her awake and i ask her “why are you awake?” she responds bk saying “he was in here.” she was referring to my older brother. i didn’t think much of it until my little sister stopped sharing a room with me. I was sleeping and what i feel was someone on top of me kissing my neck. i wake up and he was on top of me ! i pushed him off he got back up and smacked me . he got back on top of me and held me down . i was screaming help but he covered my mouth. he grabbed my boob and squeezed it hard . i felt the pain and after that he took my pants off and he forced is **** into me . he knew i would scream ! so he covered my face with a pillow . i couldnt breathe all i could o was just kick my legs . he kept forcing it in and out ! after he was done he whispered to me if you tell ill kill you . in the morning i saw blood and *** and tears everywhere ! i couldnt get up . after he left the house for while i ran to my dad crying . he didnt believe me ! he said he would talk to him . he did . the next 2 nights he came with a knife an ripped my shirt open and cut my chest .  READ MORE HERE

Sexual Abuse of Children with Autism: Factors that Increase Risk and Interfere with Recognition of Abuse

Two main arguments are made with regard to children with autism and risk for sexual abuse. First, some children with autism may be targeted for abuse by sexual offenders who may view them as vulnerable children. Second, when children with autism are sexually abused, they may show this in ways that get ignored or misattributed to autism rather than to possible sexual abuse. Because of these two issues, there need to be reliable methods established for determining whether or not a child on the autism spectrum has been sexually abused, and these protocols need to be informed by the challenges encountered by individuals with autism, voiced by those along the spectrum as well as by researchers in the autism field. READ MORE HERE

Recognizing and Preventing Abuse | Family Services/Autism

Autism and the New Sexual Victimization

Are autistic children at greater risk for abuse? 

An Angelina County judge has sentenced a Lufkin man who sexually assaulted a baby boy to 25 years in prison. District Judge Barry Bryan’s sentencing comes after a mental health evaluation for Randy Lee Casper, 38. The evaluation was performed by Sam Houston State University, and it found that Casper was competent of the crime he pleaded guilty to last October. The evaluation also found that Casper had an I.Q. lower than 70. READ MORE HERE

Recovery from sexual assault is a complicated and controversial concept. Some people believe that with counseling and time you can recover completely from a sexual assault. Others maintain that some aspect of a sexual assault will be with the victim of the assault forever. Some argue that recovery is the wrong term because it is associated with illness or disease and that the effects of a sexual assault should not be viewed in such a light. No matter what your perspective on this debate may be, the information provided below may help you think about different aspects of the process following a sexual assault. READ MORE HERE

Common victim behaviors of survivors of sexual abuse

Effects of Sexual Assault – Victim Service Center

Dancing In The Darkness: Rape and Sexual Abuse Survivors

Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse 

Man charged with raping girl, 6, and possession of child pornography

A man made an initial court appearance Friday on 22 charges alleging he repeatedly raped a 6-year-old girl and had child pornography depicting at least 18 victims. James Hubert Hopkins, 44, appeared on the charges in Yellowstone County Justice Court. He faces four felony counts of sexual intercourse without consent and 18 counts of sexual abuse of children. Judge Pro Tem Michele Sullivan set Hopkins’ bond at $250,000, told him to have no contact with any children, including his own, and to undergo GPS monitoring if he posts bail. READ MORE HERE

Mauldin found guilty in child abuse case

MARTINSBURG -A Martinsburg man indicted on child abuse and neglect charges in connection with the death of his 3-year-old son was found guilty Friday on all counts following a four-day jury trial in Berkeley County Circuit Court. The jury of eight men and four women reached a verdict at about 1:40 p.m., finding James N. Mauldin, 22, guilty of death of a child by a parent, guardian or custodian by child abuse; child abuse causing serious bodily injury; malicious assault; two counts of gross child neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury; and one count of presenting false information regarding a child’s injuries. READ MORE  HERE

Infant, 10 months, dies after his mother’s boyfriend angrily ‘threw him down a flight of stairs and forcibly put him in his crib’ causing deep brain injury and a rib fracture

A 10-month-old baby died on Friday night after his mother’s boyfriend allegedly beat him. Eddie Widdick, 23, of Jermyn, Pennsylvania was charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of his girlfriend Ashley Nelson’s child on Wednesday for allegedly bludgeoning the boy so badly he suffered deep brain injuries, hemorrhages in both eyes, bruises on the head and torso, and a rib fracture. An autopsy will be performed on the baby Silas on Monday and more charges will be filed against Widdick following the autopsy, First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico said Saturday. He also said that homicide charges are likely. READ MORE HERE

TROY, N.Y. – The city man accused of sexually abusing three little girls was arrested Friday in Pinellas Park, Fla., capping 14 hours of twists and turns in the case that has captured national attention. Acting on a tip, Pinellas Park Police found Jesse P. Sawyer, 25, in a church shelter at about midnight. At that point, he was detained but not arrested. The FBI and Troy Police provided verbal confirmation of the federal warrant for Sawyer’s arrest, and scrambled to provide a copy of the document itself. READ MORE HERE

Sex crimes fugitive was living near church preschool

N.Y. child rape suspect in custody, Pinellas Park police say

Florida mother, 43, ‘choked, tortured and starved her teenage children for more than 8 years while her husband stood by and did nothing’

A mother starved, beat and tortured her two-16-year-old children for more than eight years, police have said. Jamie Marie Hicks, 43, allegedly inflicted cruelty on the two children at her home in North Tampa, Florida while their stepfather, 53-year-old Vernon Courtney Lovell, looked on and did nothing. She hit them with various objects, choked them to the point of unconsciousness and held their heads under water, according to a police report reported in the Tampa Bay Times. She also withheld food from them for up to three days at a time, they told police, and on other occasions, she fed them spoiled food or made them regurgitate food and then eat it again. READ MORE HERE