2006 Florida Children's Summit
Compilation of Commitment Issues
| Click here to see the Summit recommendations for this issue. |
Children will develop intellectually, socially and emotionally in healthy, safe and nurturing communities.
Child abuse can physically alter the activity and structure of the brain, resulting in impaired social, emotional, cognitive and psychological development for a child. A significant portion of our country's most pressing social issues - substance abuse, school drop-outs, juvenile delinquency and adult crime - - are outcomes associated with victims of child abuse.
This workshop will focus both on strategies for child abuse prevention and on needs of children in the child welfare system. Child abuse prevention efforts include activities, strategies and programs to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors identified in research literature as associated with child abuse. These efforts are designed to increase the capacity of parents, caretakers and communities to protect, nurture and promote the healthy development of children. Likewise the child welfare system is intended to provide a safe and nurturing environment for children until they can be re-unified with parents or united with a permanent family. Florida needs to increase the capacity of all communities to help shift the focus and energy to creating a comprehensive system of support for all parents raising children in our state.