Courtesy The Family Place Utah.
LOGAN — The Family Place Utah has been showcasing their mission of strengthening families and protecting children during April, which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Utah Family Strengthening Month.
Events that were held earlier included the 14th annual Steppin’ Up for Kids event on the steps of the Cache County Courthouse and their Blue Ribbon Benefit – dinner and live auction held at the Riverwoods Conference Center.
On a recent KVNU For the People program, Dr. Sheryl Goodey, executive director of The Family Place Utah said that prevention is so important because they have found that if they can prevent child abuse, it saves a lot of tax money as opposed to intervention.
“And so we also have partnered Child Abuse Prevention Month with Utah Family Strengthening Month because we want to teach our community that there are ways that we can prevent child abuse through strengthening the family and increasing resilience, so those partner well together,” she said.
Some may feel that locally, child abuse is an occasional occurrence, but child abuse really means a lot of different things.
“It does, and I think that our community would be surprised to learn that in the calendar year of 2022, so our most recent year, there were over 350 substantiated cases of child abuse. So, that is how many that are known, that have been investigated are considered substantiated, and just think of how many more there could possibly be that have not been reported.”
Dr. Goodey said we’re really not sheltered any more than another community from such hardship and challenges.
To find out more about what The Family Place offers, including classes and how you can help, visit TheFamilyPlaceUtah.org or call (435)752-8880.