90% of child abuse is preventable - time to Speak Up and Be Safe Florida!

Florida has long been known for sandy beaches and theme parks but we've also been known for some other - not so sunny and fun - distinctions as well. Like having the 4th highest rate of child abuse in the country and having some very high profile cases of child abuse with very public and very bad outcomes. Come to think of it, one recent case actually happened at a theme park, and that was completely preventable. In fact, 90% of all child abuse is preventable.

While we'd much rather be sitting on one of those sandy beaches, the team at the Monique Burr Foundation for Children, Inc. is hard at work revising our new safety and child abuse prevention curriculum that we plan to make available to every 1st through 5th grade class in Florida by 2015, appropriately titled "Speak Up Be Safe™!" Our team, along with Childhelp, has been hard at work developing this program with the insight and contributions of experts for over a year now, and after a successful pilot phase in four Florida counties and with great feedback from our facilitators, we will be ready for full implementation in the fall. For the full history and more information about future implementation plans visit moniqueburrfoundation.org. 

Until then, stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for more details about Speak Up Be Safe™, the MBF team, and our very ambitious but achievable plans (you'll soon learn a bit more about some of the overachievers on our team which is why I say that). You will also be able to find great information on this blog about child abuse prevention, bullying and Internet safety - all important issues facing our kids, schools and communities today. Watch for some cool guest bloggers occasionally too! In the meantime you won't find us at the beach, but we are going on a road trip - so catch the team next time from Gainesville!