Meredith's Message - April

Each day, at CFEC, we dedicate ourselves to serving some of the most vulnerable children and families in our community.  Our children’s vulnerabilities – physical and developmental – place them at three times greater risk for abuse or neglect than their typically developing peers.  Parent are consistently challenged with difficult behaviors that may cause them to respond harshly; children with special needs are less equipped to do things independently, thus they rely more on adults for their care; and, abusers may take advantage of children who have difficulty speaking, hearing, or understanding social situations.April marks “National Child Abuse Prevention Month” – one of the many awareness campaigns the CFEC feels a sense of responsibility to participate in each year. This year, with the continued stressors of the pandemic, CFEC is even more concerned about the possibilities for abuse and neglect as we all are working to balance remote learning, income loss, isolation, and more.So how do we help? We educate. We mentor. We share resources. We support one another. As an organization that works closely with families – and particularly parents – we are uniquely positioned to empower our community with the positive parenting tools and support groups they need to take care of themselves and cultivate a nurturing family environment.As you’ll read in this newsletter, and throughout the pages of our website and social media, our Family Support Network Team has worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to deliver our existing programs virtually and has added new support services to meet the emerging needs of the pandemic.  It takes a village to raise a child – particularly those with special needs – and CFEC strives to ensure that our village will come out of this stronger than ever.