Last Friday, co-chair for kids in Louisville recognized what's called ten for day.

The day promotes awareness of child abuse and how to prevent it.

According to Norton Health, Although child abuse in Kentucky has decreased a little since 2022, Kentucky and Indiana still surpass the national average.

Ten for day as a day to bring awareness of the child abuse epidemic in Kentucky.

It's not necessarily a day that we want to celebrate, but it's a day that we want to reflect on what it is that we have to do to make sure Kentucky is the best place in the nation to grow up as a safe and healthy child.

Ten is spelled t e n, and it stands for torso, ears and neck.

So any bruising on the torso, ears and neck of a child, four years of age or younger or any bruising anywhere on a baby is high risk for inflicted injury and needs to be further evaluated.

Young children under the age of three are at the highest risk for abuse and abuse related death.

That is the population that we are working with.

That is the population that we are serving with has a lot of that risk is due to lack of information about developmental norms, lack of support, lack of resources.

Our problem with child maltreatment that includes physical abuse and neglect, but particularly our issues with physical abuse are well beyond the national average.

And we're among the worst 15 states for our child abuse rates.

And in the past, at times we've had the highest child fatality rate in the country.

Given that it is paramount for Kentuckians, you know, it's important for all of us to take care of our kids.

Right?

Child safety is an adult responsibility.

But here in Kentucky, that takes even more significance given the significance given the how profound the problem is here.

We know that education is key for families to help understand their child's development, to help them learn how to communicate with their child, to help them learn how to support their child's feelings through empathy as opposed to reacting.

Teaching needs skills early on in a child's life or ideally, during pregnancy, before their child even born, is preventing child abuse and strengthening families for the future.

Shaky.

Crushed it.

Dr. Curry says that if you're unsure about reporting an instance of child abuse, it can be done anonymously.

And if you're unsettled by it, then you should probably go ahead and report it.

If you are interested in attending a training to recognize the signs and patterns of child abuse, you can go to face it.

Abuse dot org to look up sessions that are close to you.