Georgia Takes Action to Prevent Child Abuse

I’ve been trying to focus on what different states are doing to help prevent child abuse. This week I’m looking at Georgia.

In 2011, Georgia had 21,205 substantiated cases of abuse or neglect, and 76 children died.  That same year the child abuse hotline went down due to lack of funds. The hotline had been established by Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, a division of Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) America. The hotline has recently been revived by a $165,000 challenge grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

PCA America is based in Chicago. There are forty-eight states that have active chapters. PCA is the only organization whose sole purpose is to prevent child abuse and neglect. It was founded in 1972 by Donna J. Stone, convened the first national conference on child abuse prevention in 1973, and formed the first state chapter in 1976 in Kansas. It has grown since to include every state in some fashion as well as Puerto Rico and Canada.

Every minute a child is abused. Five to six children die every day due to abuse or neglect. Please do your part to help prevent child abuse. Use the provided hotlines.