North Carolina needs a bold, comprehensive vision for child abuse prevention.  A vision that involves the support and active leadership of multiple stakeholders from across governmental and non-governmental entities.  A vision that thoughtfully utilizes the current research on the etiology of child abuse and neglect to provide a foundation for action.  A vision that identifies empirically based, achievable strategies for prevention that can be embraced across our state.

North Carolina, like many other states, focuses the majority of our attention and resources on the investigation and assessment of child abuse and neglect through the child protective services and law enforcement systems.  However, little attention or resources are given to preventing child abuse and neglect from occurring in the first place.  We can and we must do more to prevent child abuse and neglect.  Some of the major barriers to the reduction of child maltreatment rates in North Carolina include:

• Lack of a statewide vision or direction for child abuse prevention activities.  We lack a coherent set of empirically based strategies to reduce child maltreatment.
• Minimal policy attention at the state and federal levels.  No state agency has claimed the prevention of child abuse as one of its principal goals and legislative attention and governmental efforts have focused primarily on crises within the child welfare system.
• Insufficient and fragmented funding.  North Carolina, like the rest of the nation, spends the majority of our resources on responding to the problem of child maltreatment.

Funded by the Duke Endowment and spearheaded by Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, the Gaining Ground Initiative is a multi-year effort to identify and implement statewide strategies to reduce child maltreatment rates in North Carolina.  The outcomes of this initiative are:
 

• Adoption of a shared statewide vision for preventing child abuse and neglect that is based on empirical research.
• Committed and active leadership for child abuse prevention within governmental and non-governmental agencies.
• Recommendations for the use of additional measures that more accurately reflect the incidence of child abuse and neglect and prevention efforts.
• Adoption of empirically based child abuse prevention strategies among both public and private systems serving families and children.
• Policy changes affecting the well-being of families to prevent child abuse that are identified, prioritized, and implemented with the support of key policy leaders.
• Existing funding for child abuse prevention that is maximized and new revenue sources that are identified and explored.

• Child abuse prevention public awareness efforts will move beyond recognizing abuse and neglect to promoting behavior change among parents and those who support parents.

In order to achieve these outcomes, the Gaining Ground Initiative will undertake these steps:

Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect
The first step in developing a vision for child abuse prevention is to better understand the contributing factors of child abuse within a family and community, particularly in North Carolina families and communities.  As part of the Gaining Ground Initiative, we will:

• Publish a comprehensive literature review on the etiology of child maltreatment
• Develop an ecological model of risk and protective factors in North Carolina  
• Publish a comprehensive report on child abuse prevention theory, strategies, and promising programs
• Publish research on child abuse prevention public awareness efforts and explore new trends in public awareness
• Compile a database of existing resources for child abuse prevention in North Carolina
• Explore and depict barriers to child abuse prevention in North Carolina  
• Document opportunities to improve, focus, and enhance existing programs toward the goal of preventing child maltreatment

Development of the Gaining Ground Initiative Action Plan
In partnership with the NC Institute of Medicine, the Gaining Ground Task Force will develop a set of recommendations that adhere to the following principles.  Recommendations will be:

• Empirically-based - to the greatest extent possible recommendations will be developed using the most current research in child abuse and child abuse prevention and will be based on North Carolina’s data.
• Prioritized - so that North Carolina’s future actions in child abuse prevention are invested in areas identified as having the most impact on future maltreatment rates.
• Feasible - both from a political and economic standpoint.

 The Gaining Ground Recommendations will be not be a “wish list” but a set of strategic actions that can reduce child maltreatment rates in North Carolina.

Implementation of the Action Plan
The Gaining Ground Task Force plays a key role in the development and implementation of the “action plan.”  This will encompass several actions including stakeholder ownership, implementation of key recommendations, statewide media attention, policy and administrative recommendations presented to public agency representatives, and community forums held across the state.

The Task Force is nearing the completion of the recommendations. The recommendations will be released in late spring 2005 and a final report for North Carolina will be issued soon after.