Melissa T. Merrick, PhD, is President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America), the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect.
At Prevent Child Abuse America, we work hard to realize our vision of a world where all children grow up happy, healthy, and prepared to succeed in supportive families and communities.
You can influence public policy. Advocacy happens in many different ways, but at its core advocacy is about raising awareness, building and leveraging relationships, and educating others around the issues and policies that matter to you.
Today, December 23rd, 2022, the 117th Congress passed a legislative spending package funding the government through the end of its fiscal year until September 30, 2023. The Omnibus bill includes priorities of importance to Prevent Child Abuse America as it provides critical investments and support to families and children.
Lisbeth Schorr shares her knowledge on how to strengthen our capacity to prevent child abuse and neglect. Read more about this and download the full report.
Our commitment to keeping children safe now includes a partnership with the Doris Duke Fellowship for the Promotion of Child Well-Being, administered by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Chicago—Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America), the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect, announced today that Steven Harris, a partner at the Chicago-based law firm McDonald Hopkins LLC, has joined its national board of directors. The organization also announced the following new appointments on the board: Andrea Robertson, retired group executive, corporate treasurer of MasterCard Worldwide (chair); Robert Mayo, co-founder and vice chairman emeritus of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (co-vice chair); and Dr. Bruce Perry, senior fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy (co-vice chair).
“Ensuring happy, healthy childhoods requires a team effort, and I’m thrilled to have such a talented roster of respected leaders guiding what we do,” said PCA America President & CEO Dan Duffy. “Each of these individuals brings deep and specific knowledge to our work, and their combined expertise in finance, governance, business, medicine, research and other fields will bolster our continued and strategic growth as an organization, allowing us to effectively and efficiently reach more children and families across the country and realize our collective vision of no child ever being abused or neglected.”
Harris, who served on his firm’s executive committee, has a national reputation as an advisor to business and professional organizations, counseling privately owned corporations and healthcare clients on contractual and regulatory issues, succession planning and related transactional matters. His civic duties include acting as mayor of the Village of Deerfield, Ill., and as a director of the Illinois State Tollway Authority.
Robertson, who has served seven years on PCA America’s
With so much different advice out there about sleep for infants (and parents!) it can be confusing. This Parenting Tip is about breaking down some of that confusion and digesting this new study.
Good communication with your child is key to a healthy and positive relationship. We’ve already given tips on the importance of praise and active listening. This Parenting Tip we’re getting more specific with some pointers on giving directions to your toddler or preschooler.
Our Partner Lurie Children’s Hospital Launches the new app, called LCAST (Lurie Children’s Child Injury Plausibility Assessment Support Tool) aims to increase earlier recognition of abuse in babies and children under 4 years of age who have bruises, with the hope of decreasing the incidence of severe injury and death from child abuse in this age group.
Shopping with children, especially young children, at a grocery store or mall can be trying and stressful! Here are some tips that may prove useful on your next shopping trip to help keep stress levels low and make the experience quicker and better for everyone involved.
Chicago—Today, Dr. Melissa Merrick, president and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) calls on business leaders and policymakers to enact pragmatic strategies that prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Merrick is the lead author of a new report on ACEs, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she served previously as a subject matter expert for almost nine years.
“Exposure to ACEs is one of the biggest public health crises we confront in this country—at least five of the top 10 leading causes of death in adults are associated with ACEs, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes,” explained Merrick. “We must tackle the enormity of this problem with holistic, cross-sector approaches that actively engage the business community and legislators at the local, state and national levels, in partnership with the medical and human services fields, to prevent the occurrence of ACEs.”
ACEs are defined as potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0–17 years) such as experiencing violence, abuse or neglect; witnessing violence in the home and having a family member attempt or die by suicide. Also included are aspects of the child’s environment that can undermine their sense of safety, stability and bonding such as growing up in a household with substance misuse, mental health problems or instability due to par