Prevent Child Abuse America

Ryan Gorman hosts an iHeartRadio nationwide special featuring Dr. Melissa Merrick, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America. Dr. Merrick joins the show for Child Abuse Prevention Month to discuss the different forms of child abuse, Prevent Child Abuse America’s work in public policy advocacy, and the resources it provides for communities and families to get the help they need before a crisis.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you. This week, here's RyanGorman. Thanks so much for joining us
here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm RyanGorman, and we have a very important
conversation lined up for you. Aprilis child Abuse Prevention Month, and today
we're joined by an organization on thefront lines of this issue. Let me

(00:23):
bring in doctor Melissa Merrick, Presidentand CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America,
which you can learn more about andsupport at Prevent child Abuse dot org.
Doctor Merrick, thank you so muchfor coming on the show, and let's
start with how your organization first cameabout. Thanks Ryan for having me.
I'm happy to talk to you aboutthe work we do. So. Prevent

(00:44):
Child Abuse America is the nation's oldestand largest national nonprofit that really focuses on
preventing child abuse and neglect before itstarts. So we were founded in nineteen
seventy two, so a little morethan fifty years ago by Fleist here in
Chicago where we're headquartered Donna Jstone andDonna sort of had a vision that no

(01:06):
child should ever be abused or neglected, so she really joined with some of
her girlfriends at the time to reallyraise awareness of the problem of child abuse
and neglect. We've obviously come along way since then, where now we're
really raising awareness and commitment to theprevention solutions. And I'm sure we can
talk more about that, absolutely,but just thin give everyone a sense of

(01:29):
the scope of the problem that we'redealing with across the country. How prevalent
is child abuse in different families andcommunities in the US. Yeah, Unfortunately,
it is a really big problem,and the way that we measure it
or count it is really an underestimate. So by the best estimates, we
know that at least one in sevenchildren is experiencing some form of child abuse

(01:53):
or neglect in their homes. Butagain, some of the types of child
abuse, like child sexual abuse,for example, are really difficult to measure,
and we know that even if thisproblem happens to even one child or
in one family, that it's toomuch. So we really want to get
in front of these issues because childabuse and neglect, they are preventable.

(02:14):
Prevention is possible. When we hearthe term child abuse, I think many
of us have an image in ourhead of a young child. But what
ages does that encompass. Yeah,so child abuse and neglect can actually encompass
you know, newborn little babies allthe way up to age eighteen. So

(02:35):
really that's what we kind of considerchild abuse under age eighteen. But you're
right that our images are founded ondata. So we know that under the
age of one is the most risktime for child abuse to occur, and
a lot of that has to dowith a lot of the stressors in the
newborn period, both for the moment, for the family, the crying baby,

(02:59):
right, And so it's really importantthat we get in front and help
support families on their transition to newparenthood. It's interesting because you mentioned,
you know, a newborn young childlike that, the stress Are there certain
indicators that you look for in termsof whether or not there's a greater likelihood

(03:21):
of child abuse in a particular home. Yeah, there's a lot of risk
factors, and they can be individualrisk factors like parental depression in the home,
substance use, but really it's alsobroader risk factors like income and access
to jobs, access to equitable wages, right, So it really runs the

(03:45):
gamut and really violence and child abusecan impact any sociodemographic it's a myth that
it only happens in some kinds offamilies. It's in fact, it happens
when the risk factors outweigh some ofthe strength space factors or protective factors.
So that's why the work in preventionis so important. We want to try

(04:08):
to lessen the load that's on allfamilies during this time. You know,
as a mom myself, I haveto say, yes, I have a
PhD In child psychology, I mightknow a little bit about child rearing and
child development. I'm married. Wemake a decent income, right, so
we don't have maybe some of theeconomic stressors, but we certainly need each

(04:30):
other, right. We need socialconnections, we need childcare, we need
paid family leave. There are thingsthat alleviate the pressures, even in my
own very privileged family. So Ijust want to for all the listeners today
say that violence again, child abuse, neglect is not something that just happens
to those poor families or those badmoms. You know, those are the

(04:54):
dominant narrative. But that's a myth. We all as parents are trying to
do the very best we can do, but none of us parents alone.
We need each other and we needthe supports that we can all provide one
another. I'm Ryan Gorman, joinedby doctor Melissa Merek, President and CEO
of Prevent Child Abuse America. She'swith me for Child Abuse Prevention Month.

(05:15):
You can learn more and support thisorganization at Prevent child Abuse dot org.
So, doctor Merrek, is thereany data indicating whether or not an abuser
is more likely to be a manor a woman. Yeah, not so
much if it's a man or awoman. I would say the things that
make you more likely is if youhad this kind of upbringing right in your

(05:39):
own childhood, if you had violencein the home or harsh discipline strategies right
that can carry on over generations.But really what we see is that again
it's the stress. It's the economicfinancial stressors, the lack of social supports,
social connectedness, isolation, mental healthproblems, since use, these kinds

(06:00):
of things that can really overload ourfamilies today, and that is what really
predicts, you know, increase inrisk in certain families. Do you find
that this is something that generally startsearly or is this something that you know

(06:20):
the child could have grown up andbe six seven years old before they first
experience an instance of abuse. Certainly, child abuse neglect can happen at any
time in development. Certainly as themom of adolescent children, myself stress is
still high in this period right forchild rearing, for parenting, which again

(06:44):
is why it's so important that wesupport families before they're in crisis. We
live in a country that we especiallywith this problem of child abuse and neglect,
We often wait for families to bein crisis before they can access services
and ports that had they received thosesupports early on, their family could thrive
and be strong and resilient and notexperienced child abuse and neglectin the home.

(07:11):
On your website, you list anumber of different types of abuse, and
I want to step through them,and let's start with the two that come
to mind for pretty much everyone listeningright now, and that of course would
be physical abuse and sexual abuse.Yeah, yeah, so child physical abuse,
You're right, I think that's themost common one. Those are the
images that we have of, youknow, the kind of injuries to children

(07:34):
that we can observe, right,bruises, broken bones, these kinds of
things. And yes, it isone of the most prevalent types of child
abuse. Child sexual abuse on theother hand, although it can have lasting,
deleterious effects on health and well being, it really affects a smaller number

(07:54):
of children. Right. So thatsaid, the most prevalent form of child
maltreatment in this country is neglect.And some of that is because we often
confuse neglect with poverty. Right.If a family cannot access services and supports
or give necessary medical treatment or housingor food to children, right, that

(08:18):
may not actually be neglect. Theparents may not be neglectful. It may
just be a question of not havingsufficient resources. So neglect overwhelmingly is the
most prevalent concern that our child protectionpart child protection systems in this country deal
with. But certainly physical abuse,sexual abuse, we even have emotional abuse

(08:41):
right can also even though you maynot have the physical injuries from emotional abuse,
they can also impact our health andwell being across the lifespan. You
also listen something at proventionald abuse dotOrg that I thought was interesting and is
important to spend a few moments onbecause something that many people might not think

(09:01):
of talk to us about abusive headtrauma. Yeah, abusive head trauma is
one of the most serious forms ofphysical abuse, and we know that again
I mentioned that you know, underthe age of one is really the most
where our children are at most riskfor child abuse, including abusive head trauma.

(09:22):
But we know things work to preventthat kind of abuse. We know
that states that have even a dollarincrease in their minimum wage have ten percent
less cases of child neglect and havereductions on abusive head trauma. So this
is back to the mechanism. Whenfamilies are stressed, they're not able to

(09:43):
access the healthiest, best parts oftheir brain that help them positively parent their
crying baby. For example, I'mRyan Gorman joined by doctor Melissa Eric,
President and CEO of Prevent Child AbuseAmerica, which you can learn more about
and support it Prevent child Abuse dotorg. She's with me for Child Abuse

(10:03):
Prevention Month. So, doctor Merik, you have another form of abuse that
you list, peer abuse and bullying. What do we need to know about
that? Sure? So there's areal big body of work called the Adverse
Childhood Experiences Study, and it basicallyor ASS and it basically counts the number
of different types of adversities you haveearly in life, like peer abuse,

(10:28):
like bullying, like you know,all the forms of child abuse and neglect
and really that body of research hasgrown over the last thirty years and shows
that things that happen accumulate, andthat cumulative impact is really what can lead
to adult and lifelong health, wellbeing, and prosperity problems. So leading causes
of death like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, opioid use and misuse,

(10:56):
mental health problems like depression and suicide, all of those things link back to
experiences that we have in childhood,like all of the types of child abuse
and neglect that we're discussing today,which is why it's even more important that
we start our young children off withthe best starts and that we really have
positive childhood experiences that can also staywith us across the lifespan and across generations.

(11:22):
So we've talked about a lot ofthe different issues that you focus on
at Preven Child Abuse America. Nowlet's talk about the work you do.
What are some ways that your organizationfocuses on prevention, whether it's prevention of
child neglect or child physical abuse orchild sexual abuse. Yeah, thanks,
Ryan, And this is the greatthing about Prevent Child Abuse America is that

(11:46):
we really take a comprehensive public healthapproach right. So it's not a single
solution, it's policies and research andprograms and raising awareness that prevention is possible.
So we do our work through twolarge networks. We prevent child abuse
state chapters around the country in fortysix states, and we also have an

(12:09):
evidence based home visiting program. Sothis is a free and voluntary program for
new parents upon the birth or adoptionof a child. It's called Healthy Families
America. And that's in six hundredsites across the US in thirty eight states
d see all the five territories.Those two big networks are what really help

(12:30):
families be equipped with the services andsupports that they need on the front end,
So things like home visitation Healthy Familiesof America that actually helps new parents
navigate the stressors of new parenthood rightand meets them where they are if they
need help with a teething baby ora crying callagy baby, or they want

(12:50):
to get back to work and setgoals for themselves and figure out childcare,
all of these things that maybe someof us have family members or neighbors,
friends to help kind of troubleshoot thoseissues, but other families really they rely
on their family support specialists to givethem non judgmental support and guidance, and

(13:13):
that program what's so impactful is thatnot only is it has it been shown
to reduce child abuse and neglect incidentsin those families, but moms that graduate
from that program are seven times morelikely to complete college than moms in the
same neighborhood that don't have access tothat program. So that's one example of

(13:35):
just things that when we get infront of the problem, when we help
support families and make sure they havewhat they need when they need it,
delivered in their own communities with loveand trust and respect before they're in crisis,
we can really transform lives and futuresand generations. Your organization also does

(13:56):
a lot of work when it comesto something very important public policy, creating
change across the country to help preventchild abuse. Tell us about that.
Yeah, that's a big part ofour work. Is really Like we just
had a congressional briefing on the Hillin March where we really educated policy makers
on both sides of the aisle aboutevidence based strategies for primary prevention. Right,

(14:20):
what does that look like? Whatdoes it look like when we have
paid family leaves, So new parentscan bond and attach with their babies.
Right. What happens if families canactually afford high quality childcare? Right?
I know in this country many ofus spend much more on childcare than we
do even in our rents or mortgages. Right, It's so costly. So

(14:43):
when we reduce those burdens for families, what we see is that we can
reach all of our nation's health,well being and prosperity goals if we have
families that are supported on the frontend. So yeah, policy and advocacy
is a big part of what wedo federally on the Hill, but we
also so do it through our statechapter network. So they all advocate for
state level policies, we help thembuild capacity in their policy departments, and

(15:09):
we at the national level at PreventChild Abuse America, we're really setting the
kind of thought leadership for the wholefield. Right. So, our workforce
at the national office is maybe justfifty people, but across the country we
have about three thousand people that arereally invested in making sure families have what
they need before they're in crisis.I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by doctor Melissa

(15:33):
Marek, President and CEO of PreventChild Abuse America. She's with me for
Child Abuse Prevention Month, and youcan learn more about this organization and support
the important work they do at Preventchild Abuse dot org. When it comes
to raising awareness for child abuse prevention, how important is something like this designation
in April for Child Abuse Prevention Month? And what are some of the other

(15:56):
strategies that you employ. Yeah,we see all around the country we have
these blue pin wheels, right,pin wheels is the symbol for prevention.
Pin Wheels for prevention, a bigcampaign in April every year. And really
it's you know, you think ofa pinwheel, you know, kind of
blowing in the wind. That islike a care free, joyful childhood.

(16:18):
Right, That's what prevention looks likepersonified is joy and love and freedom,
right to be and to live ahappy and purposeful life with hope for the
future. That's our north star atPrevent Child's Abuse America. And we in
April in particular raise awareness not justof the problem of child now treatment.
Like again, child abuse and neglectis a huge problem, and we know

(16:41):
that if even one child is suffering, it's too many. But at the
same time, we know what worksto prevent child abuse and neglect in the
first place. It's not deterministic,it's not inevitable. Prevention is possible,
but we can only do that inpartnership. So April is a really important
awareness month for US across sector withour business partners, with our media partners,

(17:06):
with our certainly you know, socialservice, education, home visiting partners.
But we all have a role toplay in keeping families strong and thriving.
And that's what really our awareness missionis about having people join us and
do what they can to support familiesthat they know and neighbors and new families.

(17:29):
Right again, none of us parentsalone. We need each other.
And in fact, my kids willdo better if all kids are doing better.
That is just true to the science. And so that's what we live
in April and throughout the year.At Prevent Child Abuse America. You provide
a lot of resources at preventionild Abusedot Org that I think everyone needs to

(17:49):
be aware of. Can you runthrough those for us? Yeah, well,
certainly, Prevent Child Abuse dot Org. That's your go to page to
get you to resources. One coolthing that we have is you can go
to that page if you're in somekind of crisis or looking for services.
You can go right up top there'sa widget to the find help app and

(18:10):
it really links you with local supportsin your own area. So that is
a resource. But really we havea lot of educational resources on our website
around the different types of child abuseand neglect. Of course the risk and
protective factors, but really about theevidence based strategies for prevention. Right.
We also link of course to ourhome visiting program. If there are new

(18:33):
families, pregnant families that are interested. You can also find a Healthy Families
in America site near you. Andno matter where you're listening from today,
you can reach out. You canlook on our main website to see where
the local chapter is right and theyall host their own events and backpack drives

(18:55):
and diaper drives, you know,again getting those concrete supports out to families
to really live this mission of preventingchild abuse neglect on the front end.
One thing you do feature prominently onyour website is this theory of change,
and you've alluded to some of itthroughout the course of our discussion, but
can you give us an overview asto what that is? Absolutely so about

(19:18):
two years ago, we thought wewere embarking on sort of a strategic planning
process for our organization for Prevent ChildAbuse America, but we wanted to do
that in a really adaptive and inclusiveway. So it turned into listening to
over seventeen hundred people, about onethousand parents, partners, policymakers, philanthropy,

(19:41):
and really we co designed with allof them, with all of their
lived expertise, a theory of changefor primary prevention in this country. So
it's way bigger than just prevent ChildAbuse America. There is a role for
everyone, and like I did alludeto before, our north star in that
theory of change is that all childrenand families are living a happy and purposeful

(20:03):
life with hope for the future.So you'll see there none of those words
talk about child abuse, right becausewe know that if we are all guided
to make sure that people can behappy and living a purposeful life and having
what they need in their own communities, we will prevent child abuse and neglect,
but will also prevent leading causes ofdeath. We will also increase economic

(20:26):
prosperity for our country. We willwe will just all thrive together when we
recognize that we're all interconnected and insome ways belong to one another. So,
I you know, this theory ofchange process has just been a really
humbling experience listening to people, butit's also been very affirming because it's so

(20:48):
aligned with what our science says andwhat you know, strategies work to make
sure that people can live full andpurposeful lives with hope for the future.
I'm Ryan Gorman joined by doctor MelissaMerek, President and CEO of Prevent Child
Abuse America. She's with me forChild Abuse Prevention Month. You can learn
more about this organization and support thework they do with Prevent child Abuse dot

(21:12):
org. So in addition to Aprilbeing designated as Child Abuse Prevention Month,
coming up on April nineteenth, wehave Digital Advocacy Day. What should we
know about that? Yeah, soevery day, people who want to take
action and contact their elected officials,you can go to our website and we
have a policy Action Center kind oftab there where you literally it takes thirty

(21:36):
seconds. You put your name oryour address, it automatically finds who your
elected officials are, and it wepopulate a template letter that says we're about
supporting families. Here's a piece oflegislation that we would hope that you,
as our elected official, would support, so things like the child tax credit
or childcare so on Digital Advocacy Dayis just a day that we're calling everyone

(22:00):
to do it at the same timeso that we can really reach all of
our elected officials across the nation andtell them that we care about families and
we know that prevention is possible.We want to support families before they're in
crisis. So I do hope peoplewill join us on Digital Advocacy Day,
but really any day they can goto Prevent Child Abuse dot Org and click

(22:22):
on that policy action center. Obviouslyyour focus is on preventing child abuse before
it starts, but in instances wherechild abuse is ongoing, what are some
things that we should be on thelookout for from children who might be in
our lives, Things that teachers shouldbe on the lookout for, friends and

(22:44):
family people like that who could bein a position to help. Yeah,
I think it's a great question.Ryan that we're all connected to children and
families, right whether they're in ourown families, whether they're our neighbors,
they go to our kids' school,church, whatever. We're always at the
grocery store. Even we see familiesall the time, and I think the
key thing is to see families andto know that they feel often very alone.

(23:12):
They feel like they do have alot of stress upon them. They
feel like they're being judged right,and that they're going to do something wrong.
Especially when you see someone out inpublic, right and the baby's crying
or asking for the candy bar andyou know, throws themselves on the floor.
You realize that, oh my gosh, this would be stressful for any
of us, So lending a handseeing them, you know, offering a

(23:34):
kind word, offering to help outright, if it's someone that you know
well, you know, and theyhave a new baby, offering to bring
them a meal, you know,offering childcare for their toddler while they care
for their newborn. I mean,there's so many little things that we each
and every one of us can doto make sure that families are supported and

(23:56):
that children are safe. And thenof course, if we are concerned,
you know, making sure that wetry to try to help and try to
get them help. Obviously, teachersand others that are in you know that
interact with children professionally are mandated reportersand such and call in if they suspect
child abuse and neglect. That's important, but that is not primary prevention.

(24:21):
Again, what we want is foreveryone on the front end to make sure
families have what they need in theirown communities before they're in crisis. So
there are many, many things eachand every one of us can do every
day to help support one another.I'm Ryan Gorman joined by doctor Melissa Merrick,
President and CEO Prevent Child Abuse America. April's Child Abuse Prevention Month,

(24:44):
and you can learn more and supportthe work they do at Prevent child Abuse
dot org. Again, this issomething that takes place after unfortunately prevention didn't
work. But the strides that we'vemade in the mental health space in terms
of getting help for children who havebeen abused or perhaps tools and strategies that

(25:07):
are available now for those who areabusers to change their ways. Can you
talk about how that has all changedover the past few decades. Yeah,
Well, what I'll say is thatchildren are resilient, and we know that
when you experience child to be neglect, you're more likely to have trouble right

(25:33):
down downstream. You're more likely tohave health both physical and mental health problems
and other kinds of challenges. Butit's not deterministic. We know that we
can always make an impact by providingprotective factors. Right, safe, stable,
nurturing relationships and environments for children canchange trajectories. So I'm glad you

(25:56):
mentioned that, because when primary preventionis not in place, we still of
course want secondary and tertiary prevention efforts. We want trauma informed systems. Right
like mental health you raise, Ithink you know access to mental health is
not just after child abuse, Iintegaloct happens, or after perpetration happens.

(26:18):
It's also a strong protective factor.If people who have access to mental health
problems in the first place, youknow, mental health resources on the front
end, it makes it less likelythat they will be victimized or that they
will perpetrate violence. So mental healthis just a key resource. I'm trained
as a child clinical psychologist, andso I will say that's always going to

(26:40):
be a critical part of this work. We want to change trajectories even after
adversity occurs. What are some waysthat everyone listening can support your organization prevent
Child Abuse America, And of coursethe different ways they can learn more.
Yeah, absolutely. I think thebest resource is going to our web site,

(27:00):
prevent child Abuse dot org. Ofcourse, donations are important, but
there are so many other ways thatyou can also support the incredible work we
do because it's work that all ofus need to do. Right, prevention
can only happen in partnership. Soclick on that policy action center, write
a letter to your legislator, raiseawareness in your own communities. Right,

(27:22):
So, April is you know,blue is the color of child abuse prevention.
So I'm not on a call orgive a talk not in blue this
month. But that's another way tojust start a conversation with people, right
and again, these little moments thatwe interact with one another, bringing our
kindest, you know, most generousselves to our neighbors and our colleagues and

(27:45):
our families is really critical because again, none of us, none of us
does this parenting job alone. Weall need each other. And when we
really take a public health approach,that's what we as a society do collect
to assure the conditions in which allfamilies can thrive. Then we're all thriving
when we support one another. Andfinally, you have a number of policy

(28:10):
actions that people can take at thevery top of the website. That's another
way that everyone can get involved takinga look at those different policies and supporting
them in various ways. And youmake it easy to do. Yes,
we make it easy. The templatethe letters to your legislators are already populated.
Of course, you can put yourown letter together, you can send

(28:32):
a video, you can call,so we give you all the contact information.
Literally, it takes thirty seconds andit's so powerful because I when I
meet with legislators, they're like,oh wow, there's like you know,
I got thirty letters from my districtthat this is really important to them.
And again, preventing child abuse,neglect, supporting families, this is something
that we all need to prioritize toreach all of our nation's health, well

(28:56):
being and prosperity goals. Yeah,it might not seem like a simple letter
or an email or something like thatwould make much of a difference, but
it doesn't take much and they willnotice. So again, everyone can find
that at prevent child abuse dot org. Doctor Melissa Mereck, President and CEO
of Prevent Child Abuse America with USfor Child Abuse Prevention Month, Doctor Merrek,

(29:19):
I want to thank you so muchfor taking the time to come on
the show, and of course forall the tremendous and very important work your
organization's doing. Thank you, Ryan. All Right, and that'll do it
for this edition of iHeartRadio Communities.As we wrap things up, I want
to offer our big thanks to ourguest, and of course to all of
you for listening. If you wantto hear previous episodes of the show,
run your iHeartRadio app just search foriHeartRadio Communities. I'm your host, Ryan

(29:42):
Gorman. We'll talk to you againreal soon.