FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kristine Scott
Phone: (708) 794-2140 ext. 311
Email: kris.s@anewdv.org

National Child Abuse Prevention Month: What you need to know?

Homewood, Illinois (April 13, 2022) April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Anew:
Building Beyond Violence and Abuse recognizes the importance of families and communities
working together to prevent child abuse. Through education and outreach our agency works to
educate kids about healthy relationships, family violence and Teen Dating Violence. It is our belief
that healthy families create healthy communities.

Child abuse affects children across socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, and geography.
According to the Children’s Advocacy Center of Illinois, today there will be 222 reports of abuse in
Illinois and one in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. This would equal
293,319 children in Illinois. Increasingly, children are being affected by violence on television, in
video games, social media, music within their homes, and in the communities. We may want to
believe young children are not affected because they cannot fully understand or lack the vocabulary
to talk about violent events that happen around them. THIS IS NOT TRUE! Such exposure can
have lasting effects on emotional, social, and physical development, and can impact children
throughout their lives.

Anew has been a Safe from the Start agency for more than 14 years. Safe from the Start is funded
by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) dedicated to addressing and reducing
trauma of exposure to violence in children from birth to five years. Anew provides counseling
services free of charge and available in English and Spanish, for children and their families. We
focus on the child’s exposure to trauma through specialized therapeutic techniques. For more
information or to make an appointment for yourself or your child, contact Safe from the Start at
(708) 798-7737.

 
Anew: Building Beyond Violence and Abuse for more than 40 years has provided comprehensive,
coordinated services to families in which domestic violence exists without imposing any one
solution. We offer an array of services that includes a 24-hour bilingual hotline, emergency shelter,
counseling, court advocacy, housing support, and community education and training. For more
information about our services visit http://www.anewdv.org.

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