Register NOW for CTF's child abuse & neglect prevention conference, A Generation of Prevention, March 18-20, 2009 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City.  In addition to Larry Scott of Rachel's Challenge, headliners include:

–Rob Grunewald, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis – Economic impact of early childhood education;
–Phil Arkow, American Humane Association, Stratford, NJ – The link between animal cruelty, domestic violence, and child abuse;
–Carla Snodgrass, Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee – Building parent leadership through the five Strengthening Families protective factors;
–Vicky Marchand, Washington, D.C. – Mapping pathways to the prevention of child abuse/neglect;
–Jay Otto, MostOfUs.Org, Cody, WY – Developing positive messaging to change social norms.

These speakers are complimented by a strong line-up of local Missouri presenters.  For more information, please contact CTF at (573) 751-5147 or ctf@oa.mo.gov.  Thank you to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and Missouri KidsFirst for their support and sponsorship of this event.  We look forward to seeing you in March to help us kick-off April as Child Abuse Prevention Month!

Register NOW for CTF's statewide child abuse & neglect prevention conference, 'A Generation of Prevention: Lessons Learned & Pathways to the Future', March 18-20, 2009 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City.  Larry Scott of Rachel's Challenge will headline the event packed with national & local speakers. For more information, please contact CTF at (573) 751-5147 or ctf@oa.mo.gov.  Thank you to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and Missouri KidsFirst for their support and sponsorship of this event. We look forward to seeing you in March to help us kick-off April as Child Abuse Prevention Month!

Celebrating its 25th Anniversary (1983-2008), the Children’s Trust Fund (CTF) invites you to participate in its 2009 statewide child abuse/neglect prevention conference A Generation of Prevention: Lessons Learned & Pathways to the Future, March 18-20, 2009 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Convention Center in Jefferson City.

This kick-off event for Child Abuse Prevention Month will cover a wide range of topics and presenters including Pathways to Prevention; the Economic Impact of Child Abuse; Science of the Positive-changing social norms through positive messaging; Strengthening Families; Management/Fund Development/Grant Writing; The Link–Child & Animal Maltreatment; Parent Leadership; and a powerful opening message from national speaker Larry Scott of Rachel’s Challenge.

Register online now for the conference or click here to view and print the conference registration form and agenda.  Hotel reservations can be made by contacting the Capitol Plaza Hotel (800-338-8088) and must be made by February 23, 2009 to take advantage of the special room rate of $72.10.  Thank you to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and Missouri KidsFirst for their support and sponsorship of this event. We look forward to seeing you and hope you will help CTF celebrate a generation of prevention.

Mark your calendars to attend the 27th Child Advocacy Day scheduled for Tuesday, January 27, 2009 in Jefferson City.  The annual event, coordinated by the Missouri Alliance for Children, Youth and Families begins at 8:45 a.m. with registration in the Capitol Rotunda.  Child Advocacy Day is an opportunity for children and youth advocates to become better informed about issues, legislation and policies affecting children and provides advocates an opportunity to share their views with state legislators. Attendance at this event continues to increase with more than 800 people attending last year. Child Advocacy Day is free of charge and pre-registration is not required. [Schedule of events]

Craig Scott, the brother of Rachel Joy Scott who was the first victim of the Columbine (Colorado) School shooting, will be featured in an Education Solutions Global Network (ESGN) broadcast on Thursday, August 14, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Mr. Scott’s presentation, sponsored by the Children’s Trust Fund (CTF), will air live from the Second Annual Conference on Coordinated School and College Safety and Security in Branson.  The conference, scheduled for August 14-15, is produced each year by the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA).

To access the broadcast, viewers should visit the MSBA website and ‘click’ on ‘Watch Live Broadcast from Safety Conference.’  There will be no charge to viewers for the Internet broadcast and the presentation is appropriate for any person interested in reducing incidents of violence and abuse toward children and youth.

Craig Scott makes frequent public speaking appearances including at the White House Conference on School Safety in 2006.  He is periodically interviewed on various television programs that have included 20/20, Dateline NBC, and the Today Show to discuss the loss of his sister and his difficult recovery from the traumatic ordeal he experienced as an eyewitness to the murderous rampage.

The Columbine High School massacre took place in April 1999, claiming the lives of twelve students and a teacher (along with two perpetrators), and is one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.  Scott will use the life of his sister and the experience of Columbine to detail how kindness and compassion toward others can be an effective antidote to anger and hatred—elements that often result in violent acts toward children and others.

ESGN is a web streaming solution dedicated to the provision of live and archived Internet programming in the U.S. and abroad.  ESGN is wholly owned by the Missouri School Boards’ Association.

With funding from the Children’s Trust Fund, the Department of Social Services (DSS) – Missouri State Technical Assistance Team (STAT) Child Fatality Review Program is providing their 2008 annual training at 17 locations across the state beginning July 9.  These one-day sessions will provide updated and useful information on the following topics of interest:
-Child Fatality Review Program updates and 2007 data
-Converting data into meaningful prevention strategies
-Understanding and investigating SIDS-type infant deaths
-Multidisciplinary investigation of abusive head trauma (Shaken Baby Syndrome).

Training is free to all participants and is open to the entire child protection community.  Seating is limited, so early registration is encouraged! Register online or call (573) 751-5980 for further information.

In 1983 President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25 National Missing Children’s Day. Since that time this day has served as an annual reminder for the nation to renew efforts to reunite missing children with their families and make child protection a national priority. National Missing Children’s Day also serves as a reminder to all parents and guardians of the need for high-quality photographs of their children for use in case of an emergency, and for the need for everyone to pay close attention to the posters and photographs of missing children.  For more information visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

U.S. Senator Christopher ‘Kit’ Bond recently congratulated the Missouri Children’s Trust Fund (CTF) for twenty-five years of service and leadership in helping Missouri’s children and families and preventing child abuse and neglect.

A news conference hosted by St. Louis Children’s Hospital brought together healthcare professionals, community leaders, CTF Board members and child advocates to highlight April as child abuse and neglect prevention month.

“It will take all of us, the Trust Fund, hospitals, service providers and elected officials working together to continue to make progress,” said Bond.  “I am proud of our legacy, and I look forward to continuing our strong partnership for children,” Bond stated.

As a former Governor of Missouri, Senator Bond helped create CTF in 1983 by signing the original legistation into law to establish the organization.  Over the past 25 years, CTF, as Missouri’s foundation for child abuse prevention, has awarded more than $35 million in child abuse prevention grants to community-based organizations throughout the state.  Among others, the grants help to develop effective and innovative home visitation programs for at-risk families, mentoring programs for teen mothers, safe crib programs, and respite care programs for families in crisis.  CTF also provides public education and awareness campaigns that address Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) prevention, safe sleep environments, positive parenting, the prevention of emotional abuse and neglect, and children being safe in or around vehicles.

The concept of a Children’s Trust Fund originated with the late Dr. Ray E. Helfer, an internationally recognized pediatrician from Michigan in the field of child abuse and prevention. Dr. Helfer noted that just as there are trust funds to maintain our nation’s highways and wildlife, there should be trust funds to care for our most precious resource, our children.

His idea quickly became the catalyst for the nationwide network of children’s trust and prevention funds in existence today.  In 1983, Missouri became one of the first ten CTF’s in the nation due to the efforts of the Missouri General Assembly and then Governor Bond.  Legislation enacted that year also paved the way for citizens to donate to CTF through the Missouri state income tax checkoff, the first check-off program in the state.

Drawing upon donations from the tax check-off, CTF awarded its first prevention grants to community organizations in 1985.  Fifteen initial grants were awarded totaling $50,755.  During the current Fiscal Year 2008 alone, CTF is supporting 110 grantees statewide by distributing $2.9 million in prevention programming and public education, all with non-general revenue funding.

April has been designated as Child Abuse Neglect Prevention Month both nationally and in Missouri.  To recognize this special month, Friday, April 18, has been designated as Go Blue Day.  Missouri KidsFirst and the Children’s Trust Fund, along with many prevention organizations across the state, encourage you to wear something blue on this day to show your support for Missouri’s kids and share with others about the importance of prevention.  Blue is the official color of child abuse and neglect prevention.

Related: Go Blue Day flyer
            Blue Ribbons For Kids

It is the responsibility of each individual to prevent child abuse and neglect.  As a result, April is annually designated as Child Abuse Prevention Month. This year’s theme, Strong Families-Safe Kids, recognizes that the most important thing we can do to prevent child abuse is to support families. Prevention efforts are the best hope for eliminating child abuse in Missouri.

Missouri KidsFirst, in partnership with the Children’s Trust Fund, has developed a web-based child abuse prevention packet for individuals and communities to modify and use to support local child abuse prevention efforts. This packet is designed to help improve the safety and well being of children by offering parenting tips and ways to discuss how to bring communities together to prevent the abuse and neglect of Missouri’s children.  The toolkit may also be accessed by clicking the April is Child Abuse Prevention Month button on the CTF homepage.

If your agency is conducting events related to Child Abuse Prevention Month, and you would like to include them in the calendar of events, please complete the Activities Registration Form and return to Missouri KidsFirst.

Thank you for all you do to prevent child abuse!  Please share this message with your partners.