The Celebrate Children Foundation works in partnership with the Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board to spread evidence-informed prevention programs and services to communities across the state, while engaging in research to develop innovative approaches. Through resource development, the Foundation expands this work by providing support for prevention programs and building a permanent endowment to ensure long-term investments that build strong children, families, and communities statewide.
What is Child Maltreatment Prevention?
Child maltreatment is a significant public health issue across the nation according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Prevention Board works to prevent child abuse and neglect before it happens and to address early indications by proactively building safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments. This approach is found to protect children, increase resilience, and contribute to long-term well-being. In comparison, treatment or intervention is aimed at responding to and eliminating child maltreatment once it has occurred.
The Foundation and the Prevention Board mobilize research and practices to prevent child maltreatment through effective public policies, evidence-informed practices and innovative programs to support parents and caregivers, collaboration with key partners to leverage resources and implement initiatives, and education of professionals and the public on child maltreatment issues and solutions.
Featured Work: Five for Families
Five for Families is a statewide public awareness campaign developed as a universal prevention strategy by the Prevention Board. The primary goal of the campaign is to increase knowledge of the Protective Factors Framework, an evidence-informed, strengths-based approach to child maltreatment prevention and family well-being promotion created by the Center for the Study of Social Policy. To learn more, visit FiveforFamilies.org.
Parenting on the Go Bags
April is Family Strengthening Month; through a donation we launched Parenting on the Go bags in 2022. “Parenting on the Go Bag” can help nurture those strengths and build connections when you are out and about doing everyday activities and errands with your child.
The idea behind the Parenting on the Go Bags to supply parents and caregivers with interesting activities that can encourage independent play, promote good behavior in public, and help maintain a positive relationship between parent and child.
April 2023
Through Family Resource Centers, Parenting on the Go bags will be distributed in April 2023 for Family Strengthening Month and the Week of the Young Child. The Celebrate Children Foundation is actively seeking sponsors. If you are interested, please reference the sponsorship document.
If you are interested in donating for Parenting on the Go bags, please visit: https://celebrate-children.org/donate/
Celebrate Children Foundation wants to acknowledge our partners that supported the initial year:
Department of Children and Families
Supporting Families Together Association
Abusive Head Trauma Prevention
Prevention of abusive head trauma can be achieved through education and awareness. The Prevention Board works with partners statewide to raise awareness about this critical developmental phase in children’s lives, spreading the message that crying is a normal part of development which requires parents and caregivers to have a plan in mind to respond in a safe and healthy way.
Each year the Celebrate Children Foundation and Prevention Board partner with the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome to run the CLICK for Babies campaign. This campaign provides education and awareness on the Period of PURPLE Crying, an abusive head trauma/shaken baby syndrome prevention program. For more information on the CLICK for Babies campaign, please visit the campaign’s home page: https://celebrate-children.org/click-for-babies/
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
ACEs are certain negative occurrences in childhood, including abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction, connected to compromised health and well-being in adulthood. Some of the worst health and social problems in Wisconsin can emerge as a consequence of these childhood experiences. The Prevention Board and its partners have supported collection of ACE data to facilitate understanding about the impact of ACEs to inform development of effective prevention strategies.
Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Child sexual abuse is a form of child maltreatment as well as an adverse childhood experience (ACE) and it tends to co-occur with other traumatic experiences in childhood. The Prevention Board provides support to build awareness and conduct training aimed at prevention.
Mobilizing Protective Factors
The Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors Framework guides the Prevention Board’s work and the efforts it supports. This framework helps identify and build on the strengths, assets, and needs of families as a means to enhance the well-being of children while reducing the risk of child maltreatment. The Protective Factors are: 1) Parental resilience, 2) Knowledge of parenting and child development, 3) Social connections, 4) Concrete supports in time of need, and 5) Social emotional competence of children.
Parent Education
The Prevention Board promotes evidence-informed positive parenting education programs that reinforce and build protective factors to strengthen all families.
Public Awareness
The Prevention Board and partners join forces to promote public awareness efforts throughout the state. Current efforts include: Family Strengthening Month, CLICK for Babies and the Five for Families campaign.
Learn more about the Prevention Board efforts to strengthen families and prevent child maltreatment.
