April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and serves as an opportunity to highlight the role the community can play to support parents and families.

During 2020, Sampson County DSS (Sampson County Social Services Department) investigated 460 reports of alleged child abuse or neglect.

“This statistic demonstrates that not only this month, but throughout the year, our attention should be focused on prevention efforts to create healthier environments for children and foster confident, positive parenting,” Alisha Jackson, Child Protective Services Program Manager for Sampson County DSS, commented. Prevention efforts build on family strengths. Through prevention activities such as parent education, home visitation, and counseling, many families can find the support they need to stay together and care for their children safely in their homes and communities.”

According to Jackson, prevention efforts help parents enhance their parenting skills and identify the benefits of nonviolent discipline techniques. Programs are in place that can help parents identify, understand, and meet their child’s emotional, physical, and developmental needs.

“I think it’s a serious issue in Sampson County,” Jackson noted. “We investigated about 500 cases this past year and about 550 the year before.”

The number of cases went down slightly due to the pandemic and the fact that children aren’t at school as much where someone can see that something is going on at home according to Jackson. Shannon Barber, director of the Sampson County Child Advocacy Center, agreed on the reasoning behind the decrease in cases and stated that she believes the numbers will increase once schools open up full-time to students.

Barber noted that majority of the cases the CAC sees are sexual-related and they see the same amount of cases each year.

“We’ve seen a sharp increase in drug-related cases as well as older children with behavioral issues that their parents just don’t have the mental health resources to be able to keep them in their care,” Jackson added.

According to Barber, since 2015 the CAC has seen a total of 915 children. Last year in 2020, they saw a total of 155 children.

Prevention efforts also include assisting parents with identifying resources to address their challenges — such as substance use and mental health — that affect their ability to care and supervise their children.

“Anyone and everyone who suspects that a child is being abused or neglected is required by law to make a report to the local Department of Social Services,” Jackson added. “If you see something, say something. It is a responsibility for all of us to try to keep the children in our community safe.”

The DSS can be reached at 910-592-4200, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. After-hours reports can be made by calling 910-592-1151 or 911.

April 1 was Wear Blue Day, the official color for Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The CAC conducted an online campaign challenging everyone to wear blue on April 1. Plus, people can sport the color all month long.

“We would love to get some training scheduled with some organizations this month if possible to be able to get that word out,” Barber explained. “But that’s something that will be ongoing throughout the year all the time. We’ve tried to provide a lot of educational information on our social media page to get information out to the community.”

Barber noted that child abuse is typically not something that people want to talk about because it’s uncomfortable but there are so many things that can prevent the abuse. It starts with awareness.

“We’ve been very pleased with a lot of community support,” Barber noted. “A lot of our local churches have stepped up. We would love to do some training in the community.”

The mission of the CAC is to offer a large array of services to the children in the community that have suffered abuse and they would like to expand those services.

#BeAConnection is a social media campaign in which community partners are encouraged to post a photo or video April 11-17 to spread the word.

There is also an “Ask the Expert,” which is part of a series. Videos will be released throughout the month featuring experts describing how to build safe, stable, nurturing, homes and communities to help children thrive at preventechildabusenc.org.