Close to Home: Breaking the cycle of child abuse

The violent disciplining of children is a form of abuse. It is a devastating betrayal of the nurturing/protective role that belongs to parents and caregivers.

Consequences of any form of child abuse - physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect and endangering environments - are serious and pervasive. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reports that “maltreatment and neglect” by family increase the likelihood of delinquency and violence in teens.

Along with other adverse childhood experiences, child abuse has proven links to severe health problems and lower socioeconomic circumstances in adulthood. Corporal discipline doesn’t work. Studies show that parents who routinely ?utilize corporal punishment find that the problem ?behavior re-occurs within minutes following a spanking.

The recent coverage of NFL running back Adrian Peterson’s alleged abuse of his 4-year-old son raises the issue of how we parent our children. As Peterson stated, “I was disciplining my son in the same manner that I was as a child.” Parenting styles are generational. But they don’t have to be destiny. We can choose to raise our children differently than we were raised. But how?

Child Parent Institute has been serving Sonoma County families since 1978. Our mission is to end child abuse and strengthen the health of children, parents and families. CPI’s continuum of services includes children’s counseling, parent education and support (including family resource assistance), and a non-public school (New Directions) providing adolescent special education/mental health services. We advocate for policies that support families and protect children. All of our work aims to build the five protective factors proven to reduce the incidence of child abuse:

Parental resilience: The ability to manage and recover from the challenges that arise in every family’s life.

Social connections: A network of caring people who provide emotional support, help solve problems, and give concrete assistance.

Concrete support in times of need: Help in meeting basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, and health care during hard times.

Knowledge of parenting and child development: Information about child development and appropriate expectations for children’s behavior helps parents see their children in a positive light and promote their healthy development. It is important to note: Parents who experienced harsh discipline or other negative childhood experiences may need extra help to change the parenting patterns they learned as a children.

Social and emotional competence of children: A child’s ability to interact positively with others, self-regulate behavior, and communicate feelings.

CPI’s parent support services help parents build these five protective factors within families by providing parent education and connecting families in crisis with concrete supports to fill basic needs. One key service is our Triple P - Positive Parenting Program. Triple P is very useful for any parent who wants to improve their parenting skills; it is a powerful tool to break the cycle of intergenerational child abuse.

Triple P offers clear, simple strategies tailored to individual family situations and geared to different levels of parenting proficiency. Triple P enables parents to deal with challenging child behaviors and misbehavior without using corporal punishment. Outcomes of this program has shown that children behave better, lowering the need - and desire - for parents to use harsh punishment. CPI provides Triple P ?both in parents homes or ?in classes. Last year, 851 parents participated in Positive ?Parenting Programs through CPI.

If help is not available when needed, the cycle of abuse continues and more children become its victims. CPI’s counseling services have provided therapy for child victims of abuse since 1986 and is the state-designated provider of intervention for children traumatized by abuse in Sonoma County.

Last year, CPI provided ?8,052 hours of therapy to 325 children. We serve children birth through 18 years who ?have experienced physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect; have witnessed family or community violence; or live in endangering environments, such as with parental substance abuse.

These are complex cases often involving multi-generational trauma and abuse. Both the children and caregivers need specialized therapy to reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Additionally, CPI advocates for the health and safety of ?children and families and ?provides a forum for community members to learn more ?about child abuse prevention efforts. These activities are initiated through our local child abuse council, Prevent Child Abuse-Sonoma County. Anyone interested in this work is invited to join us.

Contact CPI at 585-6108.

Robin Bowen is executive director of the Child Parent Institute in Santa Rosa.