Child Abuse Prevention Month: How You Can Help Prevent Child Abuse in Onslow County

April 9, 2024

Understanding the Problem

In North Carolina, reports of child maltreatment are high. The most recent reporting period in 2020 found 117,268 children with investigated reports of possible abuse and neglect. Of those children, 11,295 girls and 11,098 boys were victims. Due to the difficulties of reporting child abuse and neglect during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of children who experienced abuse and neglect throughout 2020 is likely much higher.

In Onslow County, child abuse remains an ongoing concern. The latest available data from 2021–2022 assessed 1,502 cases and of those, 162 children required services. The One Place Child Advocacy Center has supported nearly 3,500 cases of child abuse and neglect in Onslow County, including 244 children evaluated by the CAC in 2022.

Protective Factors to End Child Abuse

Five core protective factors can help shield a child from abuse or neglect. When families and communities have positive protective factors at play in their communities, they serve as a buffer—helping parents find resources, support, or coping strategies to mitigate negative experiences.

Unfortunately, for some communities, multiple layers of external stress contribute to creating an environment where child abuse and neglect can occur. Often referred to as an “overload” of stress, this can include financial uncertainty, lack of access to health care, lack of access to gainful employment, or other stressful situations.

Effectively supporting families from a community perspective means giving parents and caregivers helpful resources, access to helpful support systems, and continuing education to boost parenting skills and knowledge.

The Five Protective Factors framework highlights five critical ways to create a barrier of protection for children.

Protective Factor #1: Resilience

Resilience is a lifelong skill that parents and adults can gradually develop over time and through stressful situations. While parenting is a life-changing experience, it comes with many inevitable stressors and challenges. A parent’s response to these stressors is far more important to a child’s growth and development than the stressors themselves.

Common stressors may include major life events (such as moving or a new job), unexpected life events (such as death or loss of a job), poor relationships or isolation (such as divorce or separation), lack of support or social services, children with high needs or behavioral challenges, substance abuse history, past trauma, or pervasive abuse (either in or out of the home).

To help build resilience as a parent or caregiver, consider the following activities:

Carve out time for self-care. This might mean taking a few extra minutes with a cup of tea or coffee, watching an episode of your favorite show, or calling a friend.
Find moments of joy and gratitude, no matter how small. Spend time with other community members and help each other.
Stay connected to your faith community, if this is part of your life. Many local religious organizations have opportunities to worship or study online.

Protective Factor #2: Social Connections

Raising strong, resilient children takes a village—and staying connected with those in your village is critical for a healthy foundation. For many parents, it can be overwhelming to maintain connections during busy or stressful seasons of life. However, social connection is a critical step in supporting and protecting children.

Here are some ideas on how parents and adults can build healthy social connections:

Participate in family or neighborhood activities—think potluck dinners, picnics, or community events!
Join an activity group at your local child care center
Visit your child’s school resource fair
Attend a parent group meeting
Meet other parents or caregivers in your child’s class

Protective Factor #3: Concrete Support

Community resources—like One Place!—exist for a reason. Everyone needs help from time to time. Access to local resources and programming is critical when supporting families and preventing child abuse and neglect.

One Place offers several evidence-based supports, including Early Head Start, NC Pre-K, and Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R). When children are hurt through abuse or neglect, we offer hope and healing through comprehensive services at our Child Advocacy Center.

Protective Factor #4: Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development

Decades of research have found that parent training can help strengthen developmental outcomes for children, reducing the risk of child abuse and neglect.

For families in North Carolina, the Triple P Positive Parenting Program is a free online platform, designed to help parents develop skills, strategies, and confidence to handle any parenting situation that may arise. One Place also offers high-quality training opportunities focused on positive interactions with children, trauma and resiliency, or managing challenging behaviors. View our training calendar here.

Protective Factor #5: Social and Emotional Competence of Children

During the first few years, particularly during the first 2,000 days, of a child’s life, their social-emotional health and competence begin to grow and evolve. They start to acquire different social and emotional skills, such as experiencing and expressing emotions, identifying and understanding their feelings, assessing and understanding the emotions of others, and establishing relationships with both children and adults.

Ensuring that young children are enrolled in high-quality child care and have access to informed educators serves as a protective factor against abuse or neglect. One Place offers a number of programs that provide parents and caregivers with access to programs that build social-emotional competence, such as:

Infant and Toddler Programs: The first 2,000 days of a child’s life are critical as brain development occurs. Our programs ensure families have access to safe, high-quality, and trustworthy early child care to prepare their children for success in kindergarten.

Preschool Programs: We administer two preschool programs at no cost to eligible families in Onslow County: Pre-K for 4-year-olds and Three School for 3- and 4-year-olds.

How to Prevent Child Abuse in Onslow County

All of our programs at One Place are designed to serve as a preventative approach to child abuse. By helping families connect with safe, high-quality child care programs, to giving parents and children the tools they need to thrive, we seek to protect all children in our community.

However, parents, caregivers, early educators, and local community members have a responsibility to understand the signs of child abuse and neglect—and different ways to prevent child abuse from occurring.

Recognizing Child Abuse and Neglect

While child abuse and neglect can take many forms, a broad definition is any non-accidental or substantial risk of injury to a child, either inflicted or allowed by a parent, guardian, or caregiver.

Common signs of abuse include:

Unexplained bruises in various stages of healing
Unexplained burns
Unexplained fractures, injuries, or abrasions
Self-destructive behaviors
Welts, bite marks, or bald spots
Nervousness, anxiety, hyperactivity, or aggression
Fear of parent or caregiver
Lack of expressed emotion
Shy, withdrawn, or passive
Exhibiting sexual behaviors inappropriate for their age
A detailed understanding of sexual behavior
Reversion to behaviors such as bed-wetting, speech loss, or thumb-sucking
Sleep disturbance or nightmares
Pain, itching, bruising, or bleeding in the genital region
Comes to school early, stays late, and doesn’t want to go home
Is overly compliant, an overachiever, or too responsible
Shrinks at the approach of adults
Reports injury by a parent or adult caregiver

As an adult, it is your responsibility to protect children from dangerous or abusive situations. In North Carolina, it’s required by law that adults must report any suspected child abuse, neglect, or maltreatment. To report, you don’t need any proof that maltreatment has occurred—you only need reasonable cause to suspect such an event.

If you suspect child abuse or neglect, call the Onslow County Department of Social Services (DSS) at (910) 455-4145.

Resources

Darkness to Light, Stewards of Children®: Stewards of Children is a trauma- and evidence-informed training that teaches adults how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The program is designed primarily for adults working or volunteering in youth-serving organizations or activities, however, it is applicable and helpful for all adults. One Place offers frequent Darkness to Light trainings. Visit our training calendar here to learn more.

Prevent Child Abuse NC: Provided free of charge thanks to support from the North Carolina Division of Social Services, Prevent Child Abuse NC offers two self-guided courses for adults.

What is Prevention? This course is designed for professionals and volunteers working with children and families and anyone else interested in learning more about preventing child abuse and neglect before it happens. This is a free course that will take approximately 1 hour to complete.

Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment: This course teaches citizens and professionals the signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect, what to do if you suspect maltreatment, and what happens after a report is made. This is a free course that will take approximately 2 hours to complete.

To learn more about how you can help end child abuse in Onslow County, follow our social media channels for more resources and conversation.