We've all heard the proverbial story about the villagers who kept fishing bodies out of the river. The village decided that they needed a quicker response time and put thousands of dollars into better rescue boats, ambulance services and even built their hospital closer to the river. Response time was quicker ... and yes ... they saved some, but more bodies kept coming down the river.
Finally, two people asked a question. "Maybe we should hike up the river to find out where these bodies are coming from?" Long story short, although they were scoffed at and accused of abandoning ship, the two villagers decided that they would still make the trip.
After a long arduous journey following the river, they came to a cliff where crowds of people walked close to the edge and were horrified as they witnessed one person after another plunging into the river. The two villagers from downstream quickly made danger signs and built a strong metal fence along the pathway that crossed the cliff. The next morning the people in the village noticed that the river was silent. There were no bodies floating past its shores. They didn't realize that upstream two of their villagers had made the difference.
What if we took the same approach to child abuse and neglect? As was pointed out in a very well-written recent article in the Statesman, the Department of Health and Welfare needs dozens of new workers in its child protection agency in order to provide the services that will keep kids safe and families strong. We just don't have the workers we need to protect Idaho's most precious asset. Too many children fall through the cracks of a system that is vilified both for doing too much and doing too little. Clearly we need a beefed-up child protection system to safeguard children; we also need a beefed up prevention system to prevent child abuse and neglect before they ever occur. If we prevent it, we can decrease the demand for child protection workers.
Like the two villagers who hiked upstream, the state Legislature established the Idaho Children's Trust Fund in 1985 to focus on prevention of child abuse and neglect by promoting child and family well-being in the state of Idaho.
The Trust Fund makes grants to community-based organizations throughout Idaho who are working on strengthening families to prevent child abuse. These groups provide tremendous services to families. Some of them provide parenting classes. Some visit new parents as they leave the hospital and in their homes during those critical, and stressful, first few months of parenting. The Trust Fund is also working to train child care workers to be partners with parents in preventing child abuse. Still others are raising the awareness of the issue by educating people within their communities.
Preventing child abuse is a responsibility we all share. You can be one of the villagers who keeps the people from falling over the cliff by supporting the Idaho Children's Trust Fund. When you fill out your state taxes, designate part of your refund or tax payment to preventing child abuse and neglect in Idaho by checking the Idaho Children's Trust Fund. If we invest enough upstream now, our downstream savings - both financial and in lives - will be beyond measure.
Roger Sherman is the executive director of Idaho Children's Trust Fund, whose mission is strengthening families to prevent child abuse and neglect.
