Commissioners proclaim April as Child Abuse Prevention Month

Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton issued a proclamation in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month during their Wednesday, April 3 meeting.

Accepting the proclamation were several representatives from the Highland County Job and Family Services office, including director Jeremy Ratcliff; placement/adoption supervisor Mariah Collier; social services administrator Stephanie Kelley; and ongoing supervisor Melissa Lipp.

Child Abuse Prevention Month is observed nationally each April. According to childwelfare.gov, “National Child Abuse Prevention Month recognizes the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect. Prevention services and supports developed by this collaboration can help to protect children and strengthen families.”

"April is our time of the year where we remind the community of Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month,” Ratcliff told commissioners. “It’s kind of been my message that it's everyone's responsibility to prevent child abuse because of the impact that it has, from local government to our nonprofits in the area to the private sector. It impacts our livability, our quality of life, educational achievement, economic achievement. April's the time of the year where we kind of remind folks of that, even though the fight continues all year long.”

In response to a question from Roades, Ratcliff said there are currently 176 children in the agency’s custody, but “conservatively we're probably working with another 20 to 30 families that are not in the agency custody, so over 200 children/families” altogether.

Britton also asked about substance use issues and other factors that lead to Children Services’ involvement. 

“It’s fair to say that the majority are related to substance use issues,” Ratcliff said. “Some folks in the room know my past life when I was the director of probation, and ironically, some of the same factors that that are correlated to crime also are correlated to child abuse or neglect. We're quick to say that it can occur in any socioeconomic class, because it can, but we do know things like substance use lead to increase child abuse or neglect. 

“Things like mental health, untreated mental health, unemployment, lack of work, homelessness, poverty — again, it's not to say that poverty causes challenges because it can occur in any socioeconomic class — but all of those things that we talk about, all the societal ills that we talked about, that are right here in our community lends itself to increased rates of child abuse and or neglect. Those are things that we can tackle a little bit from our side while keeping children safe, but those are also higher-level issues that are being discussed and attacked by, I think, every member of our community on how we improve those areas.”

After hearing from the JFS representatives, Daniels read the proclamation recognizing April 2024 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Highland County and urging “all residents to engage in activities whose purpose is to strengthen families and communities and to provide the optimal environment for a healthy child development.” 

Commissioners also thanked the agency for their efforts. 

“It is hard work,” Kelley said. “We do have a lot of amazing workers that put in long hours and work really hard to get the kids safe. When we do have to put them in foster care, we work hard to get them back home or with relatives. We're always mindful of the impact that it has on the children in those homes, but also the time they spend in foster care. 

“We have an amazing group of men and women that work very hard every single day, and we couldn't do it without them.”

To report suspected child abuse and/or neglect, you can call (937) 393-3111. You can find answers to frequently asked questions about the reporting process, as well as more information about the Child Protection unit and details on how to become a foster or adoptive parent, at http://www.highlandjfs.org.

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