Love146 Not a #Number is a national program affiliated with the Children's Coalition.

These days, everyone’s taking serious steps to keep you safe from getting (or spreading) this crazy new virus, and you’re not even really supposed to leave your house. So you’re spending a lot more time online: hanging out with friends, listening to music, watching videos, gaming, even doing a little schoolwork, waiting for all this to blow over. Just like in real life, there’s good stuff and bad stuff that can happen to you on the Internet. And just like with COVID-19, you can take steps to protect yourself.

Here’s the deal: there are creeps out there who are looking to take advantage of people (and they’re spending more time online right now, too). They may pretend to be your age and act like they’re your friend. They might ask you to send pics. You might reveal something private to them — only to have them threaten to share what you told them unless you do what they want. (This happens. It’s real. It’s called “sextortion.”) They may even want to meet up with you. It could seem cool at first, and then things can turn bad. Bottom line: If you’re under 18, and someone gives you something in exchange for anything sexual, that’s trafficking. We work with a lot of youth who met their traffickers online, many on Facebook, even. 

The News Star - The organizers of the Platform for Children, along with local organizations hosted an event at the Children's Coalition for Northeast Louisiana in Monroe on Tuesday.

Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Marketa Garner Walters said children don't slip through invisible cracks in the system. They slip through the spaces where society isn't holding hands tightly enough to support them.

Last year, a record 912 children were adopted out of foster care. As the audience applauded, she said if the state were doing the job right, the number of adoptions would go down, not up.

About two-thirds of the children who enter foster care in Louisiana are reunited with their families. The ultimate goal, Walters said, is to ensure families get the support they need early in the process to succeed.

There will always be abuse and neglect, she said, but the goal is to keep families from reaching the process.

We are happy to announce that the Children’s Coalition is a Partner in Prevention Organization with Darkness to Light.

We have received this recognition because we have committed the time and effort to educate ourselves, our staff on how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.

The Children’s Coalition joins more than 150 other organizations throughout the country who is recognized as a Partner in Prevention.

​The Partner in Prevention Commitment Includes:
·      Making prevention a priority by using Stewards of Children® to train staff and volunteers who interact with youth
·      Conducting background checks on staff and volunteers who work with youth
·      Implementing policy that limits opportunities for one adult to be alone with one child

Many thanks to all who attended Pinwheels for Prevention in Alexandria, LA today at the Child Advocacy Network Center. This ceremony was one of three held in North Louisiana to commemorate Child Abuse Prevention Month. Our goal is to raise awareness, strengthen community connections and increase the success rate of preventing child abuse and neglect.

This initiative, formerly known as Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana, was funded by the Carolyn W. and Charles T. Beaird Family Foundation. ​

On what the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs) is
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs) is a research study by the American health maintenance organization Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a hypothesis and a study that helps us understand how early childhood experiences can affect our health later on in life. 

On how ACEs can inspire action in Northeast Louisiana
The study helps us to understand how we can heal our communities through information. It will also help [parents] decide in parenting practices. Parents will learn how to understand early childhood development from birth to age five.

On how adverse childhood experiences are passed down generationally
In the State of Louisiana, we have a high child abuse and neglect rate, but there are also families that are mandated to come in for services. The ACEs study resonates throughout their lives through early childhood experiences. These parenting practices have also been passed down from generation-to-generation. 

For example, if a mother has been exposed to domestic violence, the environment that she and her children are in would receive an ACE score of 1. More than likely, her children will go on to experience abuse or experience domestic violence just by exposure. 

On risk factors for abuse
In my opinion, some of the biggest risk factors are poverty, drug abuse, homelessness, and depression. Most importantly, statistically, we have more neglect than physical abuse. Neglect is the biggest issue because if [a parent] is on drugs, depressed, or homeless they’re not in a position to parent properly. 
​
On resources are available to parents and new parents
New parents can benefit from learning early childhood development and knowing about the environment that your children are raised in. Knowing what children are exposed to early impacts them greatly going forward. If a child is exposed to a traumatic event, I have to think about how it impacted the brain and the environment the child is in. Resources that we have in the community are parent education. It is the greatest resource that I’ve found. We have readily, great evidence-based information for our communities to use and access.