April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month
“If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all.” – Pearl S. Buck.
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This is a time to recognize that we all can play an important role in making meaningful connections with children and families in our communities. Protecting our children from sexual abuse is very important to us at the Grand Traverse Pie Company.
During the month of April, several of our shops have information available about where and how to learn more about this issue. This includes how to talk with children about body safety. Please don’t hesitate to pick up this information when you visit our participating shops and definitely share this with your friends and family. 
Did you know 1:4 girls and 1:6 boys will have experienced sexual abuse before their 18th birthday? In fact, 90% of child sexual abuse victims know their abusers. We believe the best defense to STOP this is to talk about it and bring it into the light from the darkness… we want to break the silence. Learn more about preventing child sexual abuse by going to the Darkness to Light website and taking the Stewards of Children training.
Adverse events in our childhoods may lead to many health issues, in the long run the costs to rectify abuse’s long-term consequences affects all of us. For more information about the study on how toxic stresses, including abuse, affect our brain’s development, visit ACESTooHigh.
Be an advocate for change, empower yourself with knowledge and talk openly about this so we can all help end child sexual abuse.
Thank you for caring.
Some of our local partners are:
- Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center is dedicated to the identification, treatment, awareness and prevention of the sexual and physical abuse of children. Their mission is to protect children by providing prevention and multi-disciplinary intervention in investigation, assessment, and treatment of child sexual and physical abuse in an environment that is child-sensitive, supportive, and safe.
- Small Talk Children’s Assessment Center of Ingham County‘s mission is to provide a comfortable, child-friendly atmosphere where children receive coordinated services during the child abuse investigative process. They have a state-of-the-art center and are leading the community in addressing child abuse and empowering children to have the courage to heal.
- Kalamazoo Children’s Advocacy Center is a caring, child-friendly, safe place for children who have been sexually abused to go for help. It is a community-based program that offers a continuum of care from the child’s initial disclosure of sexual abuse through the community investigation and prosecution, to the child’s eventual recovery.
- Vigo County CASA provides specially selected and trained community volunteers to advocate and represent abused and neglected children with the juvenile court system; in pursuit of safe and permanent homes for them through collaborations with key agencies, legal counsel, and resources in the community.
Rock The Talk:
Thank you Grand Traverse Pie for the information on preventing Child Sexual Abuse and for providing resources for customers as they learn about the issue.
Thank you, Grand Traverse Pie Co. for reaching out to help sexually abused children. I was once one of them and at that time it seemed no one wanted to talk about it, so it continued until I was old enough to leave home. Most people are unaware of how great a number of children suffer sexual abuse. Most are afraid to tell anyone, either because of threats made by their abuser or for fear of others feeling they are “dirty” themselves (because that is how they feel inside). Thank you again for supporting this cause.