Putting an end to child abuse

NAWILIWILI — Thanks to a corporate partnership with Young Brothers and the United Care Hawai‘i program, child abuse prevention and child safety awareness coloring books will be distributed to concerned parents, teachers and caring adults.

The goal of United Care is in trying to reach all the children between kindergarten and the 5th grade in Hawai’i. That amounts to about 100,000 children with Kaua‘i having between 8,000 to 9,000.

According to a press release from United Care USA, child abuse encompasses emotional abuse, sexual molestation, neglect and non-accidental physical injury.

Child abuse is damage to a child for which there is no “reasonable” explanation.

United Care has been providing this literature for more than seven years, and with the help of Young Brothers, will be able to distribute to more locations on Kaua‘i.

The literature is currently being distributed to the Kaua‘i Police Department, Kalaheo, Kapa‘a, Wilcox, and King Kaumuali‘i elementary schools and schools that have an A+ after school program.

The child safety awareness book as well as the “No Excuse for Abuse” book are an effective non-threatening way to reach and teach children to trust their own feelings about good and bad touching and about the danger in strangers, the release states.

Additionally, each book comes with a physical profile and fingerprinting section to provide complete identification in the event the child is mission, has been abducted, or has been abused.

Statistics in the United Care release note that in the United States, 25 percent of all girls and 16 percent of all boys are molested before they reach the age of 16. That is more than 20 percent of all the children in the country.

“Abuse Syndrome,” or a cycle of violence, is an epidemic in society, the release continues. If a child is abused, when he or she becomes a parent, there is a strong likelihood that they will abuse their child.