Library & Learning Commons: Resiliency: Child Abuse: Additional Resources

Child Advocacy Center of North Carolina
Our Mission: Develop, train and sustain high-quality Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) and Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs).
ChildHelp National Child Abuse Hotline
Childhelp exists to meet the physical, emotional, educational and spiritual needs of abused, neglected and at-risk children. We focus our efforts on advocacy, intervention, treatment, prevention, family resilience and community outreach.
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Child Welfare Information Gateway is your connection to trusted resources on the child welfare continuum. We provide publications, research, and learning tools selected by experts to support thriving children, youth, families, and communities.
Early, Open, Often - Start the Conversation: Responsing to Disclosure
It’s very hard for children to tell anyone about sexual abuse, so they don’t usually disclose it directly. More often, abused children will take a more indirect route. Here are some of the ways you might find out about abuse from a child.
Family Resource Information, Education, and Network Development Service
FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) is a service of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau. We are a federally mandated Training and Technical Assistance Provider for CBCAP lead agencies.
Fast Facts: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
Violence is an urgent public health problem. From infants to the elderly, it affects people in all stages of life and can lead to a lifetime of physical, emotional, and economic problems. CDC is committed to preventing violence so that everyone can be safe and healthy.
Fight Child Abuse
The objective of the program is to educate all ages of children about what to do when confronted with abusive behavior such as safe and unsafe touches and other physical and emotional abuse.
National Child Abuse Coalition
Through education, policy development, and advocacy, the National Child Abuse Coalition works improve federal policies that strengthen families and communities in order to prevent, and improve the public systems designed to respond to, child abuse and neglect.
NCDHHS - About Child Abuse and Child Neglect
The Department of Health and Human Services manages the delivery of health- and human-related services for all North Carolinians, especially our most vulnerable people – children, elderly, disabled and low-income families.
Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Childhood adversities and mental disorders in first-year college students: Results from the World Mental Health International College Student initiative
This study investigates associations of several dimensions of childhood adversities (CAs) with lifetime mental disorders, 12-month disorder persistence, and impairment among incoming college students.

Husky, M. M., Sadikova, E., Lee, S., Alonso, J., Auerbach, R. P., Bantjes, J., Bruffaerts, R., Cuijpers, P., Ebert, D. D., Garcia, R. G., Hasking, P., Mak, A., McLafferty, M., Sampson, N. A., Stein, D. J., Kessler, R. C., & WHO WMH-ICS collaborators. (2023). Childhood adversities and mental disorders in first-year college students: Results from the world mental health international college student initiative. Psychology Med, 53(7), 2963 - 2973. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291721004980
The Effects of Childhood Trauma on College Completion
This study uses the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine
the effect of childhood trauma experiences on college graduation rates. A longitudinal
mediation path analysis with a binary logistic regression is performed using trauma as a
mediator between race, gender, first generation status and college completion. The analysis reveals that being female and a continuing-generation student are both associated with greater likelihood of graduating college and that trauma mediates the relationship between race, gender, first-generation status and college completion. The authors explore the implications for these findings for policy, practice, and future research.

Lecy, N. & Osteen, P. (2022). The effects of childhood trauma on college completion. Research in Higher Education, 636, 1058 - 1072. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-022-09677-9
A Systematic Review of Resilience Factors for Psychosocial Outcomes During the Transition to Adulthood Following Childhood Victimisation
Exposure to childhood victimisation (i.e. abuse, neglect, domestic violence or bullying) can detrimentally impact later psychosocial adjustment. However, this is not the case for all victimised children; some do well despite their experiences and are considered to be resilient. Understanding the factors associated with such resilience is important to inform interventions to support better psychosocial outcomes among victimised children. This review provides an overview of the extant research examining resilience factors for psychosocial outcomes during the transition to adulthood following exposure to childhood victimisation. Studies were identified through a systematic literature search of Embase, PsychINFO and Ovid MEDLINE databases.

Latham, R. M., Newbury, J. B., & Fisher, H. L. (2023). A systematic review of resilience factors for psychosocial outcomes during the transition to adulthood following childhood victimisation. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(2), 946 - 965. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380211048452
Two Sides of the Coin: The Roles of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Positive Childhood Experiences in College Students’ Mental Health
Several studies have established a link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health issues in college students. However, less is known about how positive childhood experiences (PCEs) may promote mental health and well-being, and potentially act as a buffer in the relationship between risk exposure and poor outcomes. This study investigates how ACEs and PCEs relate to college students' mental health (N = 321), within the framework of Resiliency Theory with specific attention focus on the compensatory and the protective factors models. Three key hypotheses were examined using quantitative data collected by way of an online anonymous survey: (1) ACEs will predict poorer mental health outcomes; (2) PCEs will predict better mental health outcomes and will lessen the negative effects of ACEs on mental health outcomes (compensatory factor model), and (3) PCEs will moderate the association between ACEs and mental health outcomes so that the relationship will be weaker among participants with higher PCEs (protective factor model). Findings supported each of these hypotheses and are important for our understanding of the long-term mental health correlates of ACEs and PCEs among college students. Our study underscores the importance of promoting PCEs while also underscoring the necessity of proactively preventing ACEs. Practical implications are discussed in relation to improving assessments of student needs and providing targeted interventions for those at risk.

Bhargav, M. & Swords, L. (2023). Two sides of the same coin: The roles of adverse childhood experiences and positive childhood experiences in college students' mental health. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231220018

Child Maltreatment Reports
The U.S. DHHS Children's Bureau develops the annual Child Maltreatment reports, which include data provided by the states to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.
Child Welfare Training Toolkit
The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) developed the Child Welfare Training Toolkit to educate child welfare workers about substance use and co-occurring disorders among families involved in the child welfare system.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study: Child Abuse and Public Health
by Dr. Robert Anda

This Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study assesses the effects of child abuse and related adverse childhood experiences as a public health problem and the results clearly show “Why Prevention Matters.” Study is an ongoing collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Kaiser Permanente. Begun in 1994, the Study includes 17,337 adults enrolled in the Kaiser HMO in San Diego, CA. Fully two-thirds of the study participants reported at least one adverse childhood experience such as abuse or neglect, with most reporting more than one. By bringing understanding of the childhood origins of myriad health and social problems across the lifespan, this study shows that prevention of ACEs, such as abuse and neglect, can have enormous impact on the health of our society.
Child Neglect: A Guide for Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention
This manual, Child Neglect: A Guide for Assessment, Prevention, and Intervention,
covers neglect’s definition, causes, impact, and prevention and intervention strategies in more detail.
A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice
This manual, A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice, provides the keystone for the series. The manual addresses the definition, scope, causes, and consequences of child abuse and neglect. The manual also presents an overview of prevention efforts and the child protection process from identification and reporting through investigation and assessment to service provision and case closure.
The Path to Racial Equity in Child Welfare: Valuing Family and Community
Learn about racial disproportionality and disparities in child welfare, and read about policy reforms to promote racial equity, including enhanced child abuse prevention strategies that halt unnecessary separations of children from their parents.
Prevention Toolkit
This toolkit by the Committee for Children provides material about how to discuss appropriate touch and boundaries with children.

Recognizing Child Abuse and Neglect

Gain knowledge on how to recognize true abuse and neglect to help protect the innocent. Neglect can be a failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, supervision, and medical attention. Physical abuse is a non-accidental physical injury. It can be an intentional act of physical abuse. Sexual abuse is any illegal sexual activity such as rape, fondling, child prostitution, child pornography, incest, etc.

What are child abuse and neglect?

Child abuse and neglect is an important societal concern affecting children, their families, and society at large. There were 683,000 victims of child abuse and neglect (CAN) reported to child protective services in 2015; The youngest children are the most vulnerable with about 27.7% of reported victims being under the age of three. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are also forms of child abuse and neglect. Public health and violence prevention practitioners and researchers are united by a common goal: stop CAN from happening in the first place. To help amplify their impact, CDC is working to promote a consistent definition of CAN and encourage the use of evidence-based CAN prevention strategies. These efforts help guarantee a uniform understanding of and approach to the issue which contributes to accurate reporting and surveillance, adherence to proven interventions, and opportunities to enhance existing prevention strategies and develop new ones.

Responding to Disclosures - English by Child's Advocacy Center of Kent County

This video informs adults about how to respond to a child should they disclose abuse.

Prevent ACEs Now

Prevent ACEs Now explains early childhood adversity and gives simple actions to support families and help make a better future for all children possible in their community.

Healing Adult Survivors of Child Abuse | Fire-Brown | TEDxGreenville

Hear Fire-Brown discuss how she turned a childhood of abuse and tragedy into triumph and advocacy. She shares how healing oneself can help start a movement of healing others. Originally from Newark, New Jersey, Fire-Brown is an adult survivor of child abuse who has made her home in Metro-Atlanta for the past 20 years. There, she is the Founding Facilitator of ASCA-Atlanta, a weekly self-help support group for adult survivors of childhood abuse. Several years ago, Fire-Brown found herself triggered by memories, flashbacks and nightmares of her childhood sexual molestation. After struggling with the PTSD and traumatic impact of the abuse, she sought therapy and began to blog about her experience and healing journey. Through a Google search, she found ASCA and began working the 21 Steps to recovery. She journaled about the process and wound up with a book titled “Journal of a Suicide Failed,” which includes several paintings she did along the journey. At the age of 49 she put herself through school to become a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. She is now a Registered Echo Tech and very proud of her accomplishments.

Shattering the silence and shame of Child sexual abuse | Pennie Saum | TEDxBeaconStreet

Child sexual abuse thrives in shame and silence. As a survivor of child sexual abuse, Pennie Saum shares her journey through four ways of speaking out and being loud. Childhood trauma doesn’t have to control victims lives forever, they are survivors and can have the life they dream of by breaking the silence. children, sexual assault, military, public health, childhood, self improvement Pennie Saum is an author, speaker, advocate, law changer, and voice seeker who has dedicated her life to help victims use their voice to move through trauma and grief. She has a passion for helping child sexual abuse victims become thrivers. Pennie is the founder of the Brave and Unbroken Project committed to helping victims in healing, education, advocacy and resilience.

Child Abuse Prevention With a Racial Equity Lens

Please join us as we welcome back Dr. Jessica Pryce as she discusses strategies for child abuse prevention with a racial equity lens.