We all play a role in the lives of children and their families, and their healthy development is crucial to the future health of our state.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Throughout the month, Prevent Child Abuse Georgia will be holding events and working hard to let people in communities across Georgia know that promoting the healthy development of children and families is the best way to prevent abuse.

We all can work together to achieve this by looking for the unique ways in each of our daily lives that we can use to help promote healthy children and families. For instance, those of us with free time in the morning could volunteer at local schools or community centers to ensure that before-school programs are well-equipped and prepared to help kids learn.

If you have time in the afternoon, you could volunteer at after-school programs or help coach sports teams to ensure that parents have a safe place for kids to go when they get out of school and before parents typically get home from work. We all can also donate time or money to local organizations like Prevent Child Abuse Georgia that are focused on prevention.

Anyone interested in learning more can visit preventchildabusega.org to learn more about the ways that we can help promote the healthy development of children and families and how that helps prevent child abuse from ever occurring. Log on to find out more about events that may be happening near you, and together we all can help prevent child abuse throughout Georgia.

Laura Johnson
Hall County DFCS, Gainesville

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