The Community Foundation of Hancock County has graciously awarded $2,037 to Zoey’s Place to help cover the costs of child abuse prevention materials. Zoey’s Place is providing no-cost abuse prevention education to New Palestine schools. Each class is led by a Zoey’s Place staff member and the material covered is age-appropriate.
Indiana law requires all K-12 schools — including charter and private schools — to provide age-appropriate child abuse prevention education, but the law does not provide funds for schools to use for any materials.
Coloring sheets, bookmarks, videos, and just copies of the paper handed to each student cost money, and this grant helps cover the costs for hundreds of students.
The cost per student is low, at about $2 each. This grant helps cover about 1,000 New Palestine and Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County students. In addition to the material costs, Zoey’s Place provides the staff time to schools at no cost to districts.
Abuse prevention is a critical component to lowering rates of child abuse in Hancock County and helping kids who are being abused understand that what is happening to them is not okay. Kids and even teenagers frequently do not understand that sexual assault, physical abuse, or neglect is not normal. Even if they understand that abuse may hurt physically, they often lack the vocabulary to explain to other safe adults in their lives what is happening.
When we explain to kids what abuse is, how it’s not okay, and ways they can speak to safe adults to make an outcry, they frequently come forward so an investigation can yield justice and peace. This grant helps cover the modest costs of materials and makes our community safer.
