Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting you. This week, here's Ryan Gorman. Thanks so much for joining us here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm Ryan Gorman, and we have a very important conversation lined up for you. April is child Abuse Prevention Month, and today
we're joined by an organization on the front lines of this issue. Let me bring in doctor Melissa Merrick, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, which you can learn more about and support at Prevent child Abuse dot org. Doctor Merrick, thank you so much for coming on the show, and let's start with how your organization first came about. Thanks Ryan for having me.
I'm happy to talk to you about the work we do. So. Prevent Child Abuse America is the nation's oldest and largest national nonprofit that really focuses on
preventing child abuse and neglect before it starts. So we were founded in nineteen seventy two, so a little more than fifty years ago by Fleist here in Chicago where we're headquartered Donna Jstone and Donna sort of had a vision that no child should ever be abused or neglected, so she really joined with some of her girlfriends at the time to really raise awareness of the problem of child abuse and neglect. We've obviously come a long way since then, where now we're
really raising awareness and commitment to the prevention solutions. And I'm sure we can talk more about that, absolutely, but just thin give everyone a sense of the scope of the problem that we're dealing with across the country. How prevalent is child abuse in different families and communities in the US. Yeah, Unfortunately, it is a really big problem, and the way that we measure it
or count it is really an underestimate. So by the best estimates, we know that at least one in seven children is experiencing some form of child abuse or neglect in their homes. But again, some of the types of child abuse, like child sexual abuse, for example, are really difficult to measure, and we know that even if this problem happens to even one child or in one family, that it's too much. So we really want to get in front of these issues because child abuse and neglect, they are preventable.
Prevention is possible. When we hear the term child abuse, I think many of us have an image in our head of a young child. But what ages does that encompass. Yeah, so child abuse and neglect can actually encompass you know, newborn little babies all the way up to age eighteen. So really that's what we kind of consider child abuse under age eighteen. But you're
right that our images are founded on data. So we know that under the age of one is the most risk time for child abuse to occur, and a lot of that has to do with a lot of the stressors in the newborn period, both for the moment, for the family, the crying baby, right, And so it's really important that we get in front and help
support families on their transition to new parenthood. It's interesting because you mentioned, you know, a newborn young child like that, the stress Are there certain indicators that you look for in terms of whether or not there's a greater likelihood
of child abuse in a particular home. Yeah, there's a lot of risk factors, and they can be individual risk factors like parental depression in the home, substance use, but really it's also broader risk factors like income and access to jobs, access to equitable wages, right, So it really runs the gamut and really violence and child abuse can impact any sociodemographic it's a myth that
it only happens in some kinds of families. It's in fact, it happens when the risk factors outweigh some of the strength space factors or protective factors. So that's why the work in prevention is so important. We want to try to lessen the load that's on all families during this time. You know, as a mom myself, I have to say, yes, I have a PhD In child psychology, I might know a little bit about child rearing and
child development. I'm married. We make a decent income, right, so we don't have maybe some of the economic stressors, but we certainly need each other, right. We need social connections, we need childcare, we need paid family leave. There are things that alleviate the pressures, even in my own very privileged family. So I just want to for all the listeners today say that violence again, child abuse, neglect is not something that just happens
to those poor families or those bad moms. You know, those are the dominant narrative. But that's a myth. We all as parents are trying to do the very best we can do, but none of us parents alone. We need each other and we need the supports that we can all provide one another. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by doctor Melissa Merek, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America. She's with me for Child Abuse Prevention Month.
You can learn more and support this organization at Prevent child Abuse dot org. So, doctor Merrek, is there any data indicating whether or not an abuser is more likely to be a man or a woman. Yeah, not so much if it's a man or a woman. I would say the things that make you more likely is if you had this kind of upbringing right in your own childhood, if you had violence in the home or harsh discipline strategies right that can carry on over generations. But really what we see is that again
it's the stress. It's the economic financial stressors, the lack of social supports, social connectedness, isolation, mental health problems, since use, these kinds of things that can really overload our families today, and that is what really predicts, you know, increase in risk in certain families. Do you find that this is something that generally starts early or is this something that you know the child could have grown up and be six seven years old before they first
experience an instance of abuse. Certainly, child abuse neglect can happen at any time in development. Certainly as the mom of adolescent children, myself stress is still high in this period right for child rearing, for parenting, which again
is why it's so important that we support families before they're in crisis. We live in a country that we especially with this problem of child abuse and neglect, We often wait for families to be in crisis before they can access services and ports that had they received those supports early on, their family could thrive and be strong and resilient and not experienced child abuse and neglectin the home.
On your website, you list a number of different types of abuse, and I want to step through them, and let's start with the two that come to mind for pretty much everyone listening right now, and that of course would be physical abuse and sexual abuse. Yeah, yeah, so child physical abuse, You're right, I think that's the most common one. Those are the images that we have of, you know, the kind of injuries to children that we can observe, right, bruises, broken bones, these kinds of
things. And yes, it is one of the most prevalent types of child abuse. Child sexual abuse on the other hand, although it can have lasting, deleterious effects on health and well being, it really affects a smaller number of children. Right. So that said, the most prevalent form of child maltreatment in this country is neglect. And some of that is because we often
confuse neglect with poverty. Right. If a family cannot access services and supports or give necessary medical treatment or housing or food to children, right, that may not actually be neglect. The parents may not be neglectful. It may just be a question of not having sufficient resources. So neglect overwhelmingly is the most prevalent concern that our child protection part child protection systems in this country deal
with. But certainly physical abuse, sexual abuse, we even have emotional abuse right can also even though you may not have the physical injuries from emotional abuse, they can also impact our health and well being across the lifespan. You also listen something at proventionald abuse dot Org that I thought was interesting and is important to spend a few moments on because something that many people might not think
of talk to us about abusive head trauma. Yeah, abusive head trauma is one of the most serious forms of physical abuse, and we know that again I mentioned that you know, under the age of one is really the most where our children are at most risk for child abuse, including abusive head trauma. But we know things work to prevent that kind of abuse. We know that states that have even a dollar increase in their minimum wage have ten percent
less cases of child neglect and have reductions on abusive head trauma. So this is back to the mechanism. When families are stressed, they're not able to access the healthiest, best parts of their brain that help them positively parent their crying baby. For example, I'm Ryan Gorman joined by doctor Melissa Eric, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, which you can learn more about and support it Prevent child Abuse dot org. She's with me for Child Abuse
Prevention Month. So, doctor Merik, you have another form of abuse that you list, peer abuse and bullying. What do we need to know about
that? Sure? So there's a real big body of work called the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, and it basically or ASS and it basically counts the number of different types of adversities you have early in life, like peer abuse, like bullying, like you know, all the forms of child abuse and neglect and really that body of research has grown over the last thirty years and shows that things that happen accumulate, and that cumulative impact is really what can lead
to adult and lifelong health, wellbeing, and prosperity problems. So leading causes of death like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, opioid use and misuse, mental health problems like depression and suicide, all of those things link back to experiences that we have in childhood, like all of the types of child abuse and neglect that we're discussing today, which is why it's even more important that we start our young children off with the best starts and that we really have
positive childhood experiences that can also stay with us across the lifespan and across generations. So we've talked about a lot of the different issues that you focus on at Preven Child Abuse America. Now let's talk about the work you do. What are some ways that your organization focuses on prevention, whether it's prevention of child neglect or child physical abuse or child sexual abuse. Yeah, thanks, Ryan, And this is the great thing about Prevent Child Abuse America is that
we really take a comprehensive public health approach right. So it's not a single solution, it's policies and research and programs and raising awareness that prevention is possible. So we do our work through two large networks. We prevent child abuse state chapters around the country in forty six states, and we also have an evidence based home visiting program. So this is a free and voluntary program for new parents upon the birth or adoption of a child. It's called Healthy Families
America. And that's in six hundred sites across the US in thirty eight states
d see all the five territories. Those two big networks are what really help families be equipped with the services and supports that they need on the front end, So things like home visitation Healthy Families of America that actually helps new parents navigate the stressors of new parenthood right and meets them where they are if they need help with a teething baby or a crying callagy baby, or they want to get back to work and set goals for themselves and figure out childcare,
all of these things that maybe some of us have family members or neighbors, friends to help kind of troubleshoot those issues, but other families really they rely on their family support specialists to give them non judgmental support and guidance, and that program what's so impactful is that not only is it has it been shown to reduce child abuse and neglect incidents in those families, but moms that graduate from that program are seven times more likely to complete college than moms in the
same neighborhood that don't have access to that program. So that's one example of just things that when we get in front of the problem, when we help support families and make sure they have what they need when they need it, delivered in their own communities with love and trust and respect before they're in crisis, we can really transform lives and futures and generations. Your organization also does a lot of work when it comes to something very important public policy, creating
change across the country to help prevent child abuse. Tell us about that. Yeah, that's a big part of our work. Is really Like we just had a congressional briefing on the Hill in March where we really educated policy makers on both sides of the aisle about evidence based strategies for primary prevention. Right, what does that look like? What does it look like when we have paid family leaves, So new parents can bond and attach with their babies.
Right. What happens if families can actually afford high quality childcare? Right? I know in this country many of us spend much more on childcare than we do even in our rents or mortgages. Right, It's so costly. So when we reduce those burdens for families, what we see is that we can reach all of our nation's health, well being and prosperity goals if we have families that are supported on the front end. So yeah, policy and advocacy is a big part of what we do federally on the Hill, but we
also so do it through our state chapter network. So they all advocate for state level policies, we help them build capacity in their policy departments, and we at the national level at Prevent Child Abuse America, we're really setting the kind of thought leadership for the whole field. Right. So, our workforce at the national office is maybe just fifty people, but across the country we have about three thousand people that are really invested in making sure families have what
they need before they're in crisis. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by doctor Melissa Marek, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America. She's with me for Child Abuse Prevention Month, and you can learn more about this organization and support the important work they do at Prevent child Abuse dot org. When it comes to raising awareness for child abuse prevention, how important is something like this designation in April for Child Abuse Prevention Month? And what are some of the other
strategies that you employ. Yeah, we see all around the country we have these blue pin wheels, right, pin wheels is the symbol for prevention. Pin Wheels for prevention, a big campaign in April every year. And really it's you know, you think of a pinwheel, you know, kind of blowing in the wind. That is like a care free, joyful childhood. Right, That's what prevention looks like personified is joy and love and freedom, right to be and to live a happy and purposeful life with hope for the
future. That's our north star at Prevent Child's Abuse America. And we in April in particular raise awareness not just of the problem of child now treatment. Like again, child abuse and neglect is a huge problem, and we know that if even one child is suffering, it's too many. But at the same time, we know what works to prevent child abuse and neglect in the first place. It's not deterministic, it's not inevitable. Prevention is possible,
but we can only do that in partnership. So April is a really important awareness month for US across sector with our business partners, with our media partners, with our certainly you know, social service, education, home visiting partners. But we all have a role to play in keeping families strong and thriving. And that's what really our awareness mission is about having people join us and do what they can to support families that they know and neighbors and new families.
Right again, none of us parents alone. We need each other. And in fact, my kids will do better if all kids are doing better. That is just true to the science. And so that's what we live in April and throughout the year. At Prevent Child Abuse America. You provide a lot of resources at preventionild Abuse dot Org that I think everyone needs to be aware of. Can you run through those for us? Yeah, well, certainly, Prevent Child Abuse dot Org. That's your go to page to
get you to resources. One cool thing that we have is you can go to that page if you're in some kind of crisis or looking for services. You can go right up top there's a widget to the find help app and it really links you with local supports in your own area. So that is a resource. But really we have a lot of educational resources on our website around the different types of child abuse and neglect. Of course the risk and
protective factors, but really about the evidence based strategies for prevention. Right. We also link of course to our home visiting program. If there are new families, pregnant families that are interested. You can also find a Healthy Families in America site near you. And no matter where you're listening from today,
you can reach out. You can look on our main website to see where the local chapter is right and they all host their own events and backpack drives and diaper drives, you know, again getting those concrete supports out to families to really live this mission of preventing child abuse neglect on the front end. One thing you do feature prominently on your website is this theory of change, and you've alluded to some of it throughout the course of our discussion, but
can you give us an overview as to what that is? Absolutely so about two years ago, we thought we were embarking on sort of a strategic planning process for our organization for Prevent Child Abuse America, but we wanted to do that in a really adaptive and inclusive way. So it turned into listening to over seventeen hundred people, about one thousand parents, partners, policymakers, philanthropy, and really we co designed with all of them, with all of their
lived expertise, a theory of change for primary prevention in this country. So it's way bigger than just prevent Child Abuse America. There is a role for everyone, and like I did allude to before, our north star in that theory of change is that all children and families are living a happy and purposeful
life with hope for the future. So you'll see there none of those words talk about child abuse, right because we know that if we are all guided to make sure that people can be happy and living a purposeful life and having what they need in their own communities, we will prevent child abuse and neglect, but will also prevent leading causes of death. We will also increase economic prosperity for our country. We will we will just all thrive together when we
recognize that we're all interconnected and in some ways belong to one another. So, I you know, this theory of change process has just been a really humbling experience listening to people, but it's also been very affirming because it's so aligned with what our science says and what you know, strategies work to make sure that people can live full and purposeful lives with hope for the future. I'm Ryan Gorman joined by doctor Melissa Merek, President and CEO of Prevent Child
Abuse America. She's with me for Child Abuse Prevention Month. You can learn more about this organization and support the work they do with Prevent child Abuse dot org. So in addition to April being designated as Child Abuse Prevention Month, coming up on April nineteenth, we have Digital Advocacy Day. What should we
know about that? Yeah, so every day, people who want to take action and contact their elected officials, you can go to our website and we have a policy Action Center kind of tab there where you literally it takes thirty seconds. You put your name or your address, it automatically finds who your elected officials are, and it we populate a template letter that says we're about
supporting families. Here's a piece of legislation that we would hope that you, as our elected official, would support, so things like the child tax credit or childcare so on Digital Advocacy Day is just a day that we're calling everyone to do it at the same time so that we can really reach all of our elected officials across the nation and tell them that we care about families and we know that prevention is possible. We want to support families before they're in
crisis. So I do hope people will join us on Digital Advocacy Day, but really any day they can go to Prevent Child Abuse dot Org and click on that policy action center. Obviously your focus is on preventing child abuse before it starts, but in instances where child abuse is ongoing, what are some things that we should be on the lookout for from children who might be in our lives, Things that teachers should be on the lookout for, friends and
family people like that who could be in a position to help. Yeah, I think it's a great question. Ryan that we're all connected to children and families, right whether they're in our own families, whether they're our neighbors, they go to our kids' school, church, whatever. We're always at the grocery store. Even we see families all the time, and I think the key thing is to see families and to know that they feel often very alone.
They feel like they do have a lot of stress upon them. They feel like they're being judged right, and that they're going to do something wrong. Especially when you see someone out in public, right and the baby's crying or asking for the candy bar and you know, throws themselves on the floor.
You realize that, oh my gosh, this would be stressful for any of us, So lending a hand seeing them, you know, offering a kind word, offering to help out right, if it's someone that you know well, you know, and they have a new baby, offering to bring them a meal, you know, offering childcare for their toddler while they care for their newborn. I mean, there's so many little things that we each and every one of us can do to make sure that families are supported and
that children are safe. And then of course, if we are concerned, you know, making sure that we try to try to help and try to get them help. Obviously, teachers and others that are in you know that interact with children professionally are mandated reporters and such and call in if they suspect child abuse and neglect. That's important, but that is not primary prevention. Again, what we want is for everyone on the front end to make sure
families have what they need in their own communities before they're in crisis. So there are many, many things each and every one of us can do every day to help support one another. I'm Ryan Gorman joined by doctor Melissa Merrick, President and CEO Prevent Child Abuse America. April's Child Abuse Prevention Month, and you can learn more and support the work they do at Prevent child Abuse dot org. Again, this is something that takes place after unfortunately prevention didn't
work. But the strides that we've made in the mental health space in terms of getting help for children who have been abused or perhaps tools and strategies that are available now for those who are abusers to change their ways. Can you talk about how that has all changed over the past few decades. Yeah, Well, what I'll say is that children are resilient, and we know that when you experience child to be neglect, you're more likely to have trouble right
down downstream. You're more likely to have health both physical and mental health problems and other kinds of challenges. But it's not deterministic. We know that we can always make an impact by providing protective factors. Right, safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children can change trajectories. So I'm glad you mentioned that, because when primary prevention is not in place, we still of
course want secondary and tertiary prevention efforts. We want trauma informed systems. Right like mental health you raise, I think you know access to mental health is not just after child abuse, I integaloct happens, or after perpetration happens. It's also a strong protective factor. If people who have access to mental health problems in the first place, you know, mental health resources on the front end, it makes it less likely that they will be victimized or that they
will perpetrate violence. So mental health is just a key resource. I'm trained as a child clinical psychologist, and so I will say that's always going to be a critical part of this work. We want to change trajectories even after adversity occurs. What are some ways that everyone listening can support your organization prevent Child Abuse America, And of course the different ways they can learn more. Yeah, absolutely. I think the best resource is going to our web site,
prevent child Abuse dot org. Of course, donations are important, but there are so many other ways that you can also support the incredible work we do because it's work that all of us need to do. Right, prevention can only happen in partnership. So click on that policy action center, write a letter to your legislator, raise awareness in your own communities. Right, So, April is you know, blue is the color of child abuse prevention. So I'm not on a call or give a talk not in blue this
month. But that's another way to just start a conversation with people, right and again, these little moments that we interact with one another, bringing our kindest, you know, most generous selves to our neighbors and our colleagues and our families is really critical because again, none of us, none of us does this parenting job alone. We all need each other. And when we really take a public health approach, that's what we as a society do collect
to assure the conditions in which all families can thrive. Then we're all thriving when we support one another. And finally, you have a number of policy actions that people can take at the very top of the website. That's another way that everyone can get involved taking a look at those different policies and supporting them in various ways. And you make it easy to do. Yes, we make it easy. The template the letters to your legislators are already populated.
Of course, you can put your own letter together, you can send a video, you can call, so we give you all the contact information. Literally, it takes thirty seconds and it's so powerful because I when I meet with legislators, they're like, oh wow, there's like you know, I got thirty letters from my district that this is really important to them.
And again, preventing child abuse, neglect, supporting families, this is something that we all need to prioritize to reach all of our nation's health, well being and prosperity goals. Yeah, it might not seem like a simple letter or an email or something like that would make much of a difference, but it doesn't take much and they will notice. So again, everyone can find
that at prevent child abuse dot org. Doctor Melissa Mereck, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America with US for Child Abuse Prevention Month, Doctor Merrek, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show, and of course for all the tremendous and very important work your
organization's doing. Thank you, Ryan. All Right, and that'll do it for this edition of iHeartRadio Communities. As we wrap things up, I want to offer our big thanks to our guest, and of course to all of you for listening. If you want to hear previous episodes of the show, run your iHeartRadio app just search for iHeartRadio Communities. I'm your host, Ryan Gorman. We'll talk to you again real soon.