We kicked off last month with Delaware Governor John Carney as he declared April, Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Part of Beau’s legacy was bringing the Stewards of Children program to Delaware. This month, we built on that legacy by training 473 adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child abuse. 10 of those completed the training to become official facilitators — so they can lead training sessions in their home communities. If you’re interested in the Stewards of Children program, we’re having an open training on May 12. Click here to register!
Through our partnership with NetSmartz, we provided workshops on digital and internet safety to 475 students, teachers, and parents. In addition, we educated and provided guidance to 135 participants on how to identify and report allegations of child abuse and neglect.
I was pleased to participate with a number of health and child safety experts from the GBMC – Greater Baltimore Medical Center about the prevention of child abuse. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can hear our conversation here.
The Beau Biden Foundation also promoted Five Days of Action, in which we shared tips on how adults can step up, speak out against abuse, and take steps to prevent it in their own communities.
One of the best ways to do that is to have necessary safeguards and trainings in place for organizations that interact with children and young adults.
I wrote an op-ed for the Wilmington News Journal about the need for youth-serving organizations to have a clear youth protection policy in place. You can read my op-ed here.
We had a busy month here at the Foundation, but we couldn’t have accomplished what we did without you and your support.
The more people we can reach out to, the better prepared we will be to prevent and respond to child abuse. Take this moment to share with your friends on Facebook and Twitter about the work we’re doing and how they, too, can get involved in their communities.
Thank you,
Patty
Patty Dailey Lewis
Executive Director
Beau Biden Foundation