The Secretary's initiative on child abuse and neglect - Secretary of Health and Human Services, Louis W. Sullivan

Children Today, March-April, 1992 by Lynne Heneson

In the summer of 1990, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., created an initiative to call attention to the need for broad nationwide participation in preventing and treating child abuse and neglect. The cornerstones of the initiative were the encouragement of personal responsibility and coordinated governmental and community involvement.

In 1990, States received and referred for investigation an estimated 1.7 million reports on approximately 2.7 million children who were the alleged subjects of child abuse and neglect.[1] The Secretary realized that changing this grim picture would require American citizens to build coalitions of concern, cooperative alliances that include government as a partner, but would also involve community associations, the corporate sector, the educational establishment, religious organizations, parent groups -- everyone who has a stake in the future of children. Collaboration between government and the people through partnerships would be key to achieving a decline in child maltreatment.

With this philosophical underpinning, the Initiative took form around three key components: 1) increasing public awareness of the problem of child maltreatment; 2) promoting intra-and inter-agency coordination of child abuse and neglect activities; and 3) encouraging all sectors of society to cooperate in combatting child maltreatment. A strategy team was formed, consisting of representatives of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Offices of the Assistant Secretaries for Planning and Evaluation (OASPE) and Public Affairs (OASPA), the Public Health Service (PHS) and the Deputy Under secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs (DUSIGA). This team worked intensively for nearly two years to carry out the Secretary's charge.

This paper will document the realization of this initiative.

1. Increasing public awareness of the problem of child maltreatment

While the public has become increasingly aware that child maltreatment is an unfortunate feature of American life today, people still need to know, in concrete terms, what to do to combat the problem. Therefore, the focus of public awareness activities in the initiative was to present positive messages regarding how each individual and community can make a difference in stemming the tide of child maltreatment.

The theme of the public awareness campaign was "Show You Care"- a reference to Secretary Sullivan's "culture of character", a place where individual and community responsibility for self and others is the norm, an atmosphere in which families and children can flourish. Materials were timed to appear during April, 1992, Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month. The theme was carried out in a variety of ways: * Video and audio news releases on

excellent prevention and treatment programs

were prepared and aired widely; * "Pointers for Parents", a printed sidebar

providing information on child maltreatment

and a referral source for more information,

was placed in many newspapers

and periodicals; * Secretary Sullivan and Marilyn van Derbur

Atler, a former Miss America and survivor

of sexual abuse, taped public service

announcements which were shown on

television; * Letters and sample proclamations were

sent to the Governors of all 50 Stated and

U.S. Territories, explaining the Initiative

and encouraging them to declare April,

1992 as Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention

Month in their State or Territory.

The highly successful centerpieces of the public awareness campaign were two packets developed for use by the media and by community groups. These kits, professionally designed with bold and eye-catching graphics, contained a selection of materials crafted to provide useful information for raising awareness of the problem of child maltreatment and taking steps to defeat it. Among the contents of each kit was a lively poster tided "Show You Care Everywhere!" which is meant to portray the central idea of the campaign. The poster depicts iconic vignettes of American urban and rural life - the police officer directing traffic; the farmer by his field; the firefighter in a truck; the kid shooting a basket; the family barbecuing burgers, walking down a street shopping, eating at a sidewalk cafe, leaving church, entering a hospital. These scenes are emblematic of the notion that every sector of society has a role to play in preventing child maltreatment, that no matter what ones walk of life or style of living, everyone can contribute to the solution by being a responsible participant in community and family life.

The packets also contained a letter from Secretary Sullivan, a fact sheet on child abuse and neglect, a detachable Rolodex card with telephone numbers of national organizations and hotlines, press releases useful for media outlets and community organizations, ideas for activities communities can undertake to fight child abuse, and a booklet describing community prevention programs across the nation. Some seventeen thousand of these kits were distributed through mailing lists and by request. The public and professional response to the "Show You Care" campaign was highly favorable.