FYI: April Is the Cruelst Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month

I. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

excerpt from T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land

Yes, in case you didn't hear, April is child abuse prevention month. The connection between the poem and government-sponsored, PSA-worthy month which goes unnoticed is beyond tenuous. But child abuse is cruel as it makes lasting negative impact for the rest of that child's life, I make no apologies for quoting T.S. Eliot.

As a social worker I am a mandated reporter, which means by state law I have to report to ACS (Administration for Children's Services) suspected cases of child physical, neglect or sexual abuse. Teachers, doctors, psychologists, nurses, police, EMS are also mandated reporters. I am sure I am forgetting a few professions.

Physical and sexual abuse is easy to define and comprehensible by non-professionals. Neglect, however, is a bit more difficult to define. It can mean abandonment — leaving children under the age of 12 unattended, using drugs around minors (cannabis excluded), not having food in the home, children missing school and providing inadequate medical care. Since I am listing them from memory I am sure it's incomplete. Child neglect/emotional abuse is difficult to assess, but it can damage just as much as other forms of abuse.

Working with children can be one of the most rewarding/heart-breaking experiences. Most children end up in therapy due to "benign neglect; their parents (in my case single mothers) simply lack the energy (depression, poverty) or their attention have been compromised by their own needs (boyfriend, job) to be fully emotionally present with their kids (or to provide good-enough parenting). But children are amazingly resilient, and like the way plants forgotten in the corner become revitalized with regular watering and sunlight, children respond to undivided attention and adult presence.

On a couple of occasions, children who were actively being abused were put under my watch. And making that report was heart wrenching knowing what I know about the overburdened system. It felt like I was handing a child over to a barely functioning bureaucracy with my fingers crossed, hoping their welfare didn't deteriorate.

For a brief overview on the lasting impact of childhood trauma, go here.

NCA PSA 2013 "Stand Up, Step Forward" from Ian Buchanan on Vimeo.