Shield Our Children from Harm

The Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) of the Ken & Vickie French Child Advocacy and Protection Program (CAPP) at CHaD and The Family Place Child Advocacy Centers have joined to form a collaborative effort: "Shield Our Children from Harm."

The focus of this collaboration is to address child maltreatment in ways that help to reduce the impact of child abuse in our local communities. The efforts of this collaboration are addressed by providing professional education and through community outreach.

We believe that:

  • Adults are responsible for shielding our children from harm.
  • Child maltreatment creates significant long-term health costs and social consequences.
  • Maltreatment during childhood and adolescence can have a devastating impact on an adult's capacity to be a productive member of society.
  • Healthy families are the cornerstone of healthy communities, and healthy communities nurture healthy children and families.
  • Everyone has the potential to help shield our children from harm and get involved.
  • Community leaders are essential to our success in reducing the incidence, recidivism, and prevalence of child maltreatment.
  • Coordination and collaboration of services are "best practice" nationwide.
  • Professional education and interagency cross-training among all partners in this collaboration will bring increased resources to address the problem and solutions.

Shield our Children from Harm annual conference

In 2003, the Child Advocacy and Protection Program, the Child Advocacy Center at CHaD, and the CAC at the Family Place began working with the CHaD Regional Education Office to establish a one-day annual professional conference at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The conference brings together a multidisciplinary audience of professionals involved in the investigation, prosecution, and treatment of child maltreatment. Each year our Shield our Children from Harm conference invites national, regional, and local experts to share cutting edge knowledge, research and education on best practices in all aspects of child maltreatment.

Child maltreatment in the U.S.

Child maltreatment is a serious threat for children in our country. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control indicates that as many as 43 of every 1000 U.S. children are harmed by abuse or neglect every year. National statistics estimate that one in four girls and one in seven boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthday and only one in nine ever tell.

Child Abuse Prevention Month

April is child abuse prevention month. As part of our collaboration, we work together to bring awareness to our local communities. Through education, we help the greater public understand the impact of children maltreatment in our region. We work to help people in our community recognize the signs of abuse, how to report concerns, and how to keep children safe.

For more information on understanding and recognizing the signs of abuse, as well as what you can do to help, please visit Know and Tell.

Contact us

For more information regarding community education or prevention tools please contact the Child Advocacy Center or The Family Place or CAPP.