In an effort to protect and advocate for children.

The nonprofit Cause There for Kids Facing Movement started ten for day in 2019 to raise awareness about child abuse and the tool used to identify bruising on children that could be a result of neglect.

We spoke with an official from Kentucky Youth Advocates about child abuse in Kentucky and the importance of raising awareness.

Ten for day is a day that brings awareness to the ten four faces p bruising rule, which is basically, a medical clinical decision.

That especially medical professionals used to identify whether or not bruising as a result of abuse and neglect or a result of just typical kids accidental injuries or kids being clumsy.

So ten four is an acronym.

Ten is torso, ears and neck.

And then four is for children four and under.

And then the other faces P acronym points out specifically areas of the head, neck and torso to look out for.

What we know is that babies especially, you know, our most vulnerable kids under the age of one are at a greater risk of physical abuse compared to their older peers.

And we also know that, right now in Kentucky, about 14 of every 1000 kids are identified as victims of abuse and neglect.

So oftentimes what we see is little kids that cannot communicate.

And especially during times of a lot of crying, whether it's a baby that is colicky or maybe a child who's teething, or sometimes we see it with toddlers who are potty training, it causes a lot of stress and frustration for parents and caregivers who don't really know how to deal with the frustration and kind of incessant crying that can be really triggering to to adults.

Abuse can happen in any type of home.

It doesn't have to be a family who struggling financially.

There are well-off families who also unfortunately maltreated their children.

So it's not something that you can make an assumption about.

If you see a child struggling because the family is well off or well resourced.

It's it's knowing and understanding, especially changes to a child's behavior that could indicate that something's going on.

If you are a neighbor or a family member of a parent who has a new baby, the first and most protective thing that somebody can do is just check in on them and see if they need any support, if they need someone to talk to.

There's a lot of little ways and big ways that we can prevent abuse from ever happening, and a lot of that has to do with recognizing that a parent may be struggling and may not feel comfortable asking for help, but you offering that as an adult can be incredibly important to both the parent and the child.

Free training is available to anyone interested in learning more about pediatric abuse of head trauma prevention and the bruising rule.