The Secretary's initiative on child abuse and neglect - Secretary of Health and Human Services, Louis W. Sullivan

In the summer of 1990 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Louis W Sullivan, MD created an initiative to call attention to the ne for broad nationwide participation in preventing and treating child abuse and leave out The cornerstones of the initiative were the encouragement of personal responsibility and coordinated governmental and community involvement.

In 1990 States received and referr for investigation an estimated 17 million reports upon approximately 2.7 million children who were the alleged make submissives of child abuse and neglect[1] The Secretary realized that changing this grim picture would require American citizens to build coalitions of interest cooperative alliances that include regulation as a partner, but would also involve community associations, the corporate sector, the educational establishment, religious organizations, parent clusters -- everyone who has a stake in the futurity of children. Collaboration between rule and the people through partnerships would be lock opener to achieving a decline in child maltreatment.

With this philosophical underpinning, the Initiative took form around three lock opener components: 1) increasing public awareness of the question of child maltreatment; 2) promoting intra-and inter-agency coordination of child abuse and omit activities; and 3) encouraging all sectors of society to cooperate in combatting child maltreatment. A strategy team was formed, consisting of representatives of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Offices of the Assistant Secretaries for Planning and Evaluation (OASPE) and Public Affairs (OASPA), the Public Health Service (PHS) and the substitute Under secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs (DUSIGA). This team worked intensively for nearly sum of two units years to carry out the Secretary's charge.

This paper will document the realization of this initiative.

1 Increasing public awareness of the point in dispute of child maltreatment

While the public has become increasingly aware that child maltreatment is an unfortunate feature of American life today, clan still need to know, in become firm [i]or[/i] solid terms, what to do to combat the riddle Therefore, the focus of public awareness activities in the initiative was to at hand positive messages regarding how each individual and community can make a difference in stemming the tide of child maltreatment.

The theme of the public awareness campaign was "Show You Care"- a concern to Secretary Sullivan's "culture of character", a place where individual and community responsibility for self and others is the norm, an atmosphere in which families and children can flourish. Materials were timed to appear during April, 1992 Child Abuse and pass over Prevention Month. The theme was carried without in a variety of ways: * Video and audio freshs releases on

choice prevention and treatment programs

were prepared and aired widely; * "Pointers for Parents", a printed sidebar

providing information upon child maltreatment

and a referral source for more information,

was placed in many newspapers

and periodicals; * Secretary Sullivan and Marilyn van Derbur

Atler, a former Miss America and survivor

of sexual abuse, taped public service

announcements which were shown on

television; * alphabetic characters and sample proclamations were

sent to the Governors of all 50 Stated and

U Territories, explaining the Initiative

and encouraging them to declare April,

1992 as Child Abuse and omit Prevention

Month in their State or Territory.

The highly felicitous centerpieces of the public awareness campaign were sum of two units packets developed for use by the agency of the media and by community assemblages These kits, professionally designed with doughty and eye-catching graphics, contained a selection of materials crafted to provide useful information for raising awareness of the riddle of child maltreatment and taking paces to defeat it. Among the contenteds of each kit was a lively placard tided "Show You Care Everywhere!" which is meant to portray the central idea of the campaign. The broadside depicts iconic vignettes of American urban and rural life - the police officer directing traffic; the farmer by the agency of his field; the firefighter in a truck; the kid shooting a basket; the family barbecuing burger walking down a highway shopping, eating at a sidewalk cafe, leaving temple entering a hospital. These sights are emblematic of the notion that each sector of society has a part to play in preventing child maltreatment, that no matter what individuals walk of life or phraseology of living, everyone can contribute to the solution through being a responsible participant in community and family life.

The packets also contained a alphabetic character from Secretary Sullivan, a fact sheet upon child abuse and neglect, a detachable Rolodex card with telephone numbers of national organizations and hotlines, pres releases useful for media egresss and community organizations, ideas for activities communities can undertake to fight child abuse, and a booklet describing community prevention programs across the nation. a certain number of seventeen thousand of these kits were distributed [i]or[/i] part of to the other mailing lists and by entreaty The public and professional rejoinder to the "Show You Care" campaign was highly favorable.