Child Abuse Prevention Month

Sample Social Media Posts

Tips: Make sure to include the hashtags #PassThePinwheeland #GreatChildhoods in your tweets and Instagram posts. Similarly, include calls to action whenever possible.

And, to foster connections and build a strong voice during Child Abuse Prevention Month, make sure to re-tweet those that mention you and reply to those who wish to start a dialogue.

We also encourage you to live-tweet or host a Facebook Live broadcast at your events during Child Abuse Prevention Month! This helps create urgency with real-time news, builds awareness around your event and the issue.

We have divided up the following social media post talking points by categories. Feel free to adapt each post to fit the channel you are posting on. For Twitter, keep the post below 140 characters and try to use both hashtags #GreatChildhoods and #PassThePinwheel. For Facebook, feel free to use the posts as they are below. Add photos as you see fit from our social media toolkit or your own collection of photos. Please use the links in the posts that include a link or feel free to direct people to your own website.

All children deserve great childhoods

  • Children who are raised in safe, stable, nurturing environments are more likely to grow up to become more productive, prosperous workers who help create secure, healthy communities.
  • Children who are raised in stable families do better academically, are shown to be more financially successful and contribute more to society.
  • It’s essential that all children have great childhoods, and we all have a role to play as adults in making that vision a reality.
  • When we go upstream and invest in proven strategies that help strengthen families, we prevent child abuse and neglect before it even happens. That's why we work to build safe, stable, nurturing homes and communities with our partners. Please watch and share this video!
  • Did you know there are conditions in families and communities that, when present, increase the health and well-being of children and families? These attributes, known as the Protective Factors, serve as buffers, helping parents find resources, support, or coping strategies that allow them to parent effectively, even under stress. Check out and share Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina’s Protective Factor’s infographic:
  • When communities come together to support children and families, we all benefit: our fellow citizens are better educated, employees are more effective and miss less work, and we’ll see a profound impact on the quality of life in the communities in which families live.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & toxic stress disrupt healthy child development

  • The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study shows that the long term impact of child abuse and neglect is not simply an impact on the individual victim. Problems linked to child abuse and neglect tax healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. Child abuse affects a community’s quality of life and economic prosperity. Learn more about the impact of ACEs and Toxic Stress:
  • ACEs include child abuse, neglect, parental stress, divorce, parental unemployment, parental mental illness, or addiction. Learn more from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website:
  • Children who experience abuse develop toxic levels of stress. Consistent, high levels of stress without the buffer of a nurturing adult become toxic to a child and actually damage the developing architecture of a child’s brain. The changes to a child’s brain caused by exposure to toxic stress can lead to significant behavioral changes and-long term health consequences. Learn more about toxic stress:
  • More than one in four people have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), and one in eight has experienced at least four or more ACEs during their childhood. The greater number of Adverse Childhood Experiences increases the risk of long-term negative health and behavioral consequences.
  • Reducing Adverse Childhood Experiences leads to positive long-term outcomes for children and communities; including reducing risk for serious health complications and helping children grow into more prosperous and productive adults.
  • An economic analysis released by Prevent Child Abuse America in May 2012 estimated the annual cost of child abuse and neglect in North Carolina is $2 Billion. This includes the direct, short-term costs of immediate medical attention, mental health services, the child welfare system, and law enforcement. The indirect, long-term costs include special education, early intervention, emergency housing, long-term mental health care, long-term physical health care, juvenile delinquency, the adult criminal justice system, and lost worker productivity costs related to children and adults who have been abused. Learn more here:
  • Child abuse and neglect is a public health issue but it is more than that; it affects the child right now and it affects all of us in the future. Watch this video from WakeGov TV Child Abuse Prevention Month to learn more

Get involved in Pinwheels for Prevention®

  • At (ORGANIZATION NAME) we are asking the community to show their support for children and families. Plant a large pinwheel garden with your business, church, or community group, or plant a Pinwheel Home Kit in your own front yard! Get your pinwheel materials today:
  • April is Child Abuse Prevention Month; it is a time to celebrate the good things our communities do to promote healthy child development, as well as a time to reflect on the work that still remains. What’s your plan to show support for children?
  • Let us know what steps you’re taking this April during Child Abuse Prevention Month to promote great childhoods in your community. Share your actions with us on social media using the hashtags #GreatChildhoods and #PassThePinwheel
  • You can celebrate Child Abuse Prevention Month by planting a pinwheel garden to honor those who helped you or your children have #greatchildhoods. Order your pinwheels:
  • You can play a bigger role in the lives of families and children by visiting Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina at to find out how you can support their work to prevent child abuse and neglect from ever occurring.
  • Help us plant Pinwheels in Parks across North Carolina. We want to see every North Carolina town, city, county, or state park covered in pinwheels. Learn more: To get the parks system in your community involved, email with interest!
  • Shining in the sun, the pinwheel is reflective of the bright future all children deserve and our belief that getting it right early is less costly than trying to fix it later. Get some tips and tools about planting pinwheels in your community:
  • Watch Vielka Gabriel from Wake County Human Services and Kristie Demers from Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina talk about the community’s vital role in prevention and how you can get involved by planting pinwheels throughout the community to show your solidarity and support for children and families.

Take action during Child Abuse Prevention Month

  • April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and (ORGANIZATION NAME) is encouraging people across the state to make a difference in the lives of children. Learn more about Child Abuse Prevention Month:
  • Check out this video from last year’s Child Abuse Prevention Month efforts across North Carolina and commit to being a part of making this year’s celebration even bigger!
  • Ask your city council or board of commissioners to proclaim April as Child Abuse Prevention Month! Contact their offices to get on their agenda! Here is the Child Abuse Prevention Month proclamation:
  • Educate yourself about how to recognize and respond to child abuse and neglect with Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina’s free online training “Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment” :
  • Learn about what prevention really is with Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina’s free online training “What is Prevention?”:
  • Sign the Pledge for Prevention to demonstrate your commitment to the great childhoods all children deserve:
  • Purchase a Kids First Specialty License Plate and raise awareness on the roads for the great childhoods all children deserve. $15 of the $25 specialty plate fee goes directly back to the Children’s Trust Fund which provides funding to programs that prevent child abuse and neglect from ever occurring.
  • Raise awareness for the Kids First License Plates in your community with the Kids First Toolkit! Email if you’d like to receive free awareness materials to distribute in your community.
  • Pass out parenting materials at your agency, school, or event to help educate parents and caregivers on effective parenting strategies, tips, and resources in the community! Get your materials here:
  • April is Child Abuse Prevention Month; it is a time to celebrate the good things our communities do to promote healthy child development, as well as a time to reflect on the work that still remains. Make a donation to an organization that makes a difference in the lives of children and families:
  • Create your own fundraising page during Child Abuse Prevention Month! You’ve seen friends set up fundraising pages for runs and other activities; now you can set one up and challenge your friends to show their support for children and families this April! Set up your donation page today!
  • Become a social media advocate for children with our Social Media Toolkit! Download profile pictures, banners, images, and more!
  • Did you know North Carolina has a Safe Surrender law in place, properly called the "Infant Homicide Prevention Law," which allows new parents in crisis to leave their up to seven-day-old infant with a responsible adult, legally and anonymously. Learn more and spread the word:
  • We hope you will take this opportunity to begin thinking about children, all children, all year long, and the role you can play in their healthy development. These actions can take place at any point in the year - April is just a starting point!
  • Once you’ve decided to do something to make a difference in Child Abuse Prevention month, let the world know! Share your story on social media using the hashtags #GreatChildhoods and #PassThePinwheel, telling everyone what you did to help make great childhoods for all children a reality in your community. Inspire others to follow your example and learn how they too can support children and families.
  • This year, we are focusing on three simple actions you can take to make a difference. You can mentor a child or parent, advocate for policies that support children and families, or donate to child-serving organizations. Each of these actions help increase the Protective Factors in your community.
  • Mentoring children provides another stable, caring adult in the life of children. As research from Dr. Jack Shonkoff shows, the availability of one stable, caring, and supportive relationship between a child and adult caregiver can help children achieve positive outcomes in the face of adversity. Mentoring a parent can limit feelings of isolation and reduce stress on an overburdened parent, reducing risk factors for abuse and neglect. #ProtectiveFactors
  • Advocating for policies and programs that support children and families, like CAPTA, can help swing support for these laws, resulting in larger appropriations and more funding for the programs and services that work with children and families at a local level. For more information check out Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina’s Policy Goals:
  • Donating to child-serving organizations helps keep the doors open and the work going. Donations can be in the form of money or time, as many organizations need volunteers just as much as they need their bills paid. Click here to donate to Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina to support families all 100 counties:

We encourage you to use these samples and variations on these same themes throughout the month. Keep in mind that our messaging research shows us that phrases like “all children deserve great childhoods” and language that connects better childhoods to more prosperous and productive futures tests well with external audiences.