It takes a VILLAGE

There is an African proverb that says it takes a village to raise a child.  To me, this means that as a community we are collectively responsible for ensuring that the children in our midst are respected, cared for and protected. Child abuse is a very high profile issue that is of concern in our society, and most people are very aware of the harmful effects it has on a child's development.

Child neglect, on the other hand, is the more common form of child maltreatment and can be equally damaging in a person's life, and more difficult for the broader community to recognize. According to Child Maltreatment 2007, the most recent data-set from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 753,000 children are the victims of maltreatment in the US, 59% of whom suffered from neglect.  

Neglect in the past has been narrowly translate to mean inattentive or under-involved parents. This definition has allowed the blame to fall entirely on parents and failed to take into account the effects of unequal socio-economic status or poverty.  

The US Government's Child Welfare Information Gateway broadly defines neglect as an inability to provide for a child's basic needs. This means that neglect can be physical (an inability to provide necessary food or shelter); medical (inability to provide basic medical needs); educational (failure to educate a child); and emotional (inattention to a child's emotional needs). 

Now I am no expert on child development, but I know that children respond to the attention that they receive from adults, any and all adults. Prevent Child Abuse MN has a great analogy for this, they call it the serve and return:

Just like in a tennis game, children “serve the ball” to adults when they reach out for interaction through a look or a smile or a coo or a cry. We each have the chance then to choose whether or how to “return the ball.” Will we let it go by? If we respond in a caring, loving way, and continue in a back and forth exchange with the child, we are helping to build strong, healthy brain pathways.

As members of congregations and adults of faith it is our responsibility to respond to the children around us in caring and loving ways. We need to each do our part to ensure that our interactions with children are positive and reinforce their value in our communities. When a child attends a mosque, church, or synagogue it is not just a parents responsibility to show care and love, it is the entire worshiping communities responsibility as well.

This April, iCAN will be raising awareness about about issues of child abuse and neglect in Minnesota with help from our partners, Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota. Stay tuned for more by receiving Wednesdays4Kids and following us on Facebook!