March | April 2018

Message From the Administrator: OJJDP Is Committed To Preventing Child Abuse

Hello. I’m Caren Harp, Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. OJJDP encourages families, communities, and our partners to take this time to renew their commitment to safeguarding children—a commitment we renew every day.

Too many youth are witnesses or victims of violence in their homes, neighborhoods, and schools. Sadly, in 2018, we’ve already seen several tragic instances of this exposure through school shootings. In February, the shooting in Parkland, FL, claimed 17 lives. And, in March, the shooting at Great Mills High School in MD—not far from our Washington, DC, offices—left one student and the gunman dead, and another student wounded.

As a long-time prosecutor, public defender, and former chief of a family court sex crimes prosecution unit, I am keenly aware of the horrific crimes done to and by youth. That’s why my staff and I collaborated to revise our agency’s priorities to focus more specifically on enhancing public safety, ensuring accountability, and empowering youth to take responsibility for their choices.

We must make resources available to protect children and help young crime victims recover. At the same time, we must hold young offenders accountable and rehabilitate them so that they can grow up to lead productive, law-abiding lives.

OJJDP supports a wide range of programs to address child abuse and neglect, and their related consequences. We fund and support the growth of children’s advocacy centers across the country. In 2017, 854 centers were integral to the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases involving more than 334,000 children.

We partner with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to offer critical intervention and prevention services—such as the AMBER Alert program and the CyberTipline—that help families and law enforcement resolve cases of missing and exploited children.

OJJDP also established the Internet Crimes Against Children program—also known as ICAC—and, through our continued support, ICAC task forces have received more than 775,000 reports of online victimization and made upwards of 83,000 arrests.

Data is important, but, truly, our focus is on the children. Our Changing Minds campaign provides those who work with children the tools proven to help kids heal. Likewise, our Model Programs Guide presents comprehensive information on effective resources practitioners can use to help children and youth who are exposed to violence and victimization.

OJJDP envisions a nation where our children are free from crime and violence. Working together, we can achieve this vision.

For more information about OJJDP programs, visit our website at OJJDP.gov.

Thank you.