April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when we come together to identify, promote and discuss the prevention of child abuse before it begins. Protective factors are conditions or attributes in individuals, families, communities, or the larger society that, when present, mitigate or eliminate risk. When these factors are present in families and communities, you see an increase in the health and well-being of children and families. Protective factors help parents to find resources, supports, or coping strategies that allow them to parent effectively, even under stress.

The lack of protective factors results when communities have unmet needs in psychosocial and other concrete resources. The presence of protective factors in a community have children who become healthier adults because they have built resilience and coping strategies for mitigating the adverse childhood experiences they experienced.
Evidence has shown that the inclusion of protective factors in programs and communities are linked to lower incidences of child abuse and neglect:

The protective factors framework includes building nurturing and attachment through:

• Knowledge of parenting and of child and youth development
• Parental resilience
• Social connections
• Concrete supports for parents
• Social and emotional competence of children

To find out how you can support your local Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Council, contact Healthy Kids at 563-1818 or go online www.healthykidsmaine.com.