Public to comment on state’s plan for preventing child abuse

ATLANTA – Members of the public can offer comments on the revision of the state’s plan for preventing child abuse at a series of meetings around the state.

The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services announced Friday that public input is vital to coming up with a plan that’s workable and supported. Each year, the Division gets more than 140,000 reports of a child being maltreated, most having to do with neglect or a parent’s failure to adequately care for the child. Although the update of the plan is being coordinated by the Division’s Prevention and Community Support Section, in partnership with Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, the plan is a Georgia state plan, meant to coordinate the efforts of all state and local partners in preventing child maltreatment. 

Many of the causes of neglect are manageable, such as mental illness, substance abuse and poverty. Lack of parenting skills is another factor in neglect and often in cases of physical abuse, according to abuse-prevention experts.

The plan is a strategy for helping communities to have the resources to address the causes of neglect and other forms of abuse.

Georgia’s existing plan was initiated by then-Gov. Zell Miller and hasn’t received a comprehensive update since.

Attendance at the meetings is free of charge and open to the public. To have plenty of space for everyone, the agency is asking people wanting to attend to register on the Prevent Child Abuse Georgia website at abuse.publichealth.gsu.edu/canpp/. 

Each day’s meeting will include a three-hour session for service providers and a separate two-hour session for parents, caregivers, and members of the general public.

In addition to the regional meetings, the state plan will incorporate the results of two surveys, one for parents and caregivers and one for service providers.  Links to the surveys are also available on the Prevent Child Abuse Georgia website. 

Georgia Child Abuse Prevention Plan
Regional Planning Session