Supported caregivers make for happier kids. This April, remember you matter.
Supported caregivers make for happier kids. This April, remember you matter. | Opinion Healthy and happy childhoods happen when parents have the support and community needed to thrive.
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National Child Abuse Awareness Month
The month of April is National Child Abuse Prevention month. Learn more about the immediate and long-term effects on a child's physical and mental health.
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Every caregiver needs support along the way. The stress we feel as parents can affect the interactions we have with our loved ones and our kids. That's why this year's theme for National Child Abuse Prevention Month is 'Happy and healthy children have parents who feel supported.' The campaign emphasizes not only the needs of the child, but the needs of the parents and caregivers as well.
Every April, we focus on raising awareness of family support and abuse prevention. Organizations and partners from around the state will join in support of prevention throughout the month. We encourage organizations, agencies and families across the state of Florida to plant pinwheel gardens and host events celebrating healthy, happy childhoods.
Research shows that when parents' needs are met and they have friends, family and neighbors who support them as caregivers, their children thrive. Prevent Child Abuse Florida is here to help parents learn to build relationships with their children, manage stress and connect to their community for support and resources.
One way caregivers can find support in Florida is our Circle of Parents program. Through Circle of Parents, anyone in a parental role can seek guidance while discussing the challenges and triumphs of raising children with other parents. These support groups provide a judgment-free, respectful environment that helps build community among caregivers.
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Every baby cries. Some babies cry a lot. Period of PURPLE Crying is a program that helps parents understand and cope with their baby's crying.
If you are the parent of a newborn, check out our information about the Period of PURPLE Crying at www.preventchildabusefl.org/purple.
Parents, don't know where to begin? Start with Hope Florida.
Not sure how to find resources in your community? Look to the Hope Florida program through the Florida Department of Children and Families for additional support.
Hope Florida was created by first lady Casey DeSantis and administered by the department with the goal of supporting Florida's families through the utilization of family mentors, called Hope Navigators.
The Hope Navigators work with families to help identify and achieve goals as well as refer families to different community-based partners, such as Healthy Families Florida. To speak with a Hope Navigator, call (833) GET HOPE. More information about the program can be found at hopeflorida.com/get-help.
Opinion: It's weird, but I'm glad a racist called my son the N-word
This April, we are not only celebrating prevention efforts; we are normalizing the act of asking for help.
It's important that families have access to the support they need when they need it, where they need it and before there's a crisis. Healthy and happy childhoods happen when parents have the support and community needed to thrive.
To learn about Child Abuse Prevention Month, read our new positive parenting guide, or download materials from our toolkit, visit www.preventchildabusefl.org. Together, we can prevent abuse and neglect by supporting Florida's families.
Chesley Richardson is the executive director for Prevent Child Abuse Florida, a program of the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and the state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America. This column originally published in the Palm Beach Post.
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RFK Jr. will ‘end the war' against alternative medicine at the FDA, from stem cell therapy to chelation. Here's what to know
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. doubled down on his support for non-pharmaceutical health treatments during a recent podcast appearance, saying, 'We're going to end the war at the FDA against alternative medicine.' Speaking on the Ultimate Human podcast with host Gary Brecka, a 'renowned Human Biologist, biohacker, and longevity expert,' according to the website, Kennedy said he would fix the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's bias against the following: stem cell treatments, chelating drugs, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, peptides, and hyperbaric chambers. 'Our position is that the FDA has a job: Just do the science on these kinds of issues and then tell the public what they've learned from the science … but don't tell physicians what they can and cannot prescribe,' he said. And as far as the patients go, he said, 'If you want to take an experimental drug … you ought to be able to do that.' RFK Jr. added, 'We don't want to have the Wild West. We want to make sure that information is out there. But we also want to respect the intelligence of the American people' to decide what treatments will benefit them the most. He acknowledged that, with this approach, there will be 'charlatans' as well as 'people who have bad results' from various alternative treatments. 'But ultimately,' he said, 'you can't prevent that either way, and leaving the whole thing in the hands of pharma is not working for us.' Brecka called Kennedy's pronouncements 'music to my ears.' Below, what you need to know about the alternative therapies RFK Jr. is advocating for. What is it: It's a way to repair diseased or injured tissue in the body using stem cells—cells that can self-renew or become other types of tissues—typically grown in a lab, manipulated, and then be implanted into the patient. What it does: Though it's considered to be largely experimental, the FDA does permit stem cell therapies for blood and immune disorders. Leukemia, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, and multiple myeloma, for example, are also often treated this way, with bone marrow treatments, which are backed by decades of science. Other types of the treatment are still in clinical trials, while more and more wellness centers are offering the treatment for unapproved reasons, using cells drawn from the patient's body and injected back in without manipulation for everything from autism and ALS to Parkinson's and better skin, according to the New York Times. Kennedy told Brecka that he received the treatment for his voice disorder, spasmodic dysphonia, and that it helped him 'enormously,' but that he had to go to Antigua to access it. Risks: For starters, wellness clinic treatments cannot guarantee they are using actual stem cell, reported the Times. And improper injections can lead to a host of terrible consequences—clots, infections, blindness, and even the formation of tumors, which the FDA warned of in 2021. What it is: Chelation involves the use of certain chemicals to remove toxic heavy metals, such as mercury and lead, from the body; all FDA-approved chelation therapy products require a prescription and can only be used safely under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner. What it does: Some alternative medicine practitioners offer chelation therapy, through pill or injection, as a way to treat Alzheimer's, autism, diabetes, high blood pressure, or Parkinson's disease, all of which are unapproved and risky. Children's Health Defense, founded by Kennedy, has written about chelation as a way to treat autism, which compares 'autism with mercury poisoning' due to childhood vaccines that contained the preservative thimerosal (largely mercury) before it was removed in 2001. Some flu shots still contain the preservative, but, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 'There is no evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines.' Risks: The FDA warns specifically about using chelation therapy for autism, and notes, 'Chelating important minerals needed by the body can lead to serious and life-threatening outcomes.' While minor risks may include fever, headache, muscle pain, and nausea or vomiting, severe reactions range from heart failure and kidney damage to respiratory failure and seizures, according to the Cleveland Clinic. What they are: Dietary supplements in almost every letter of the alphabet, from A to zinc, are over-the-counter pills or liquids that contain nutritional boosts of vitamins and minerals. What they aim to help: Vitamin and mineral supplements aim to fill in with necessary nutrients that a person is not getting through food—though nutritionists believe that healthy food is the best source of such vitamins and minerals. Studies have found supplements may help with practically any issue under the sun—energy, heart issues, cognitive function, gut health, sleep, and more. 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RFK Jr. has promoted 'freedom of choice' while limiting vaccines, food
Prior to becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had espoused the idea of "medical freedom," the ability of people to make personal health decisions for themselves and their families without corporate or government coercion. It's an idea supported under Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by making healthier lifestyle choices. On topics, such as vaccines, Kennedy has said he wouldn't prevent children from being able to receive vaccines but would leave the choice up to parents. MORE: CDC official who oversaw COVID vaccine recommendations resigns "I'm a freedom-of-choice person," Kennedy told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an interview in March. "We should have transparency. We should have informed choice, and if people don't want it, the government shouldn't force them to do it." Some public health experts told ABC News, however, that the HHS has been limiting choices on some products for many Americans despite Kennedy's talk about "freedom of choice." Just last week, Kennedy announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for certain groups. Additionally, Kennedy has called on states to ban recipients of food stamps from being able to use them to purchase soda. He has also praised states for banning fluoride from public drinking water and indicated he will change federal guidance on recommending adding fluoride. The public health experts said Kennedy's actions are setting up a dichotomy on public health. "I think that RFK Jr. has done a really good job of identifying some of the problems [in public health], but it's the solutions that are problematic," Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice at Brown University School of Public Health, told ABC News. "What you're seeing with RFK Jr. and his approach to health is an individualization of public health. It's this idea that you can make decisions for your health, and that's always been true." He went on, "We need to be able to follow their guidance, not just have them tell us, 'Follow your own science.' As the focus shifts from community to individuals, we're losing a lot of that underpinning, which has led to a lot of the gains in public health." Kennedy has repeatedly stated that he is not anti-vaccine and that he supports vaccination. Shortly after Trump's election, Kennedy said in an interview with NBC News that "if vaccines are working for somebody, I'm not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information." MORE: CDC official who oversaw COVID vaccine recommendations resigns During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he supported the childhood vaccination schedule and that he would not do anything as head of HHS that "makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines." Separately, in an opinion piece Kennedy wrote for Fox News in March on the nationwide measles outbreak, he said the measles vaccine helps protect individuals and provides "community immunity" but also called the decision to vaccinate a "personal one." However, last week, Kennedy announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC's immunization schedule for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women." The CDC's immunization schedule is not just a guide for doctors but also determines insurance coverage for most major private plans and Medicaid expansion programs. Following Kennedy's announcement, the schedule was updated noting all children would be eligible for COVID vaccines, but now under a shared-clinical decision-making model -- allowing parents to choose whether their children are vaccinated alongside advice from a doctor. "Regarding the vaccines, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told ABC News in a statement. "We are encouraging those groups to consult with their health care provider to help them make an informed decision. This is freedom of choice." "If you restrict access, you necessarily restrict choice," Dr. Matthew Ferrari, a professor of biology and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News. "Those two things are antithetical. You can't do both. You can't say you're allowing choice if you're restricting access." Ferrari said the idea of "medical freedom" is catchy, but public health recommendations are made based on how to protect the most vulnerable individuals. "If you look at the outcomes, if you look at the consequences of that movement, it has been to disproportionately restrict access to -- and restrict support and infrastructure to allow people to access -- preventive medicine," he said. "It's sort of easy to say, 'Well, take the vaccine away. But [vaccines] prevent a future outcome of illness for yourself and for others in the community." Traditionally, the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices decides if there is a benefit to a yearly vaccine and who should get it. The independent advisory committee then makes recommendations to the CDC, which has the final say. The committee was set to meet in late June to vote on potential changes to COVID vaccine recommendations. Spencer said Kennedy's bypassing of traditional avenues when it comes to changing vaccine recommendations is also taking away choice from people. "This did not go through the normal process that it should have, and he basically just made a decision for people while at the same time saying that he's going to let people make a decision," Spencer said. Kennedy has also campaigned to prevent Americans from using food stamps -- provided under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- to buy candy and soda. "It's nonsensical for U.S. taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing junk that harms the health of low-income Americans," Kennedy wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last September. MORE: RFK Jr. to tell medical schools to teach nutrition or lose federal funding At a MAHA event in late May, Kennedy said the governors of 10 states have submitted waivers to the United States Department of Agriculture requesting permission to ban SNAP recipients from using benefits to buy candy and soft drinks. "The U.S. government spends over $4 trillion a year on health care," Nixon said in a statement. "That's not freedom -- it's failure. Secretary Kennedy is unapologetically taking action to reverse the chronic disease epidemic, not subsidize it with taxpayer dollars. Warning Americans about the dangers of ultra-processed food isn't an attack on choice -- it's the first step in restoring it." Nutrition experts agree that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are unhealthy. Frequent consumption of SSBs is linked to health issues such as weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, heart disease and kidney diseases, according to the CDC. Kristina Petersen, an associate professor in the department of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News there is a crisis of diet-related diseases in the U.S., which increase the risk of disability and reduces lifespan. However, she said there needs to be strong evidence of the benefits of restrictive policies if they are to be put in place. "In terms of limiting people's choices, it is important to consider all the different roles that food plays in someone's life, and so obviously we want people eating nutritious foods, but also we need to acknowledge that food is a source of enjoyment," Petersen said. "A lot of social situations revolve around food. So, when we're thinking about reducing people's access to given foods, we need to think about the consequences of that." One unintended consequence could be an eligible family not signing up for SNAP benefits because of the restrictions, she said. Even if a ban on buying candy and soda with SNAP benefits does occur, Petersen said she is not aware of any evidence that shows banning certain foods leads to healthier diets. She added that the nation's dietary guidelines are written to emphasize healthy foods like fruits and vegetable rather than telling people to avoid or restrict less healthy foods. "All foods can be consumed as part of a healthy dietary pattern. It's really just the amount and the frequency that determines whether that pattern is helpful overall or less helpful," Petersen said. "People can have small indulgences, but really, we're interested in what is their pattern over a period of time." Providing incentives for purchasing healthier foods may be more effective and still allow people to have choice, Petersen said. A 2018 study used a model simulation to study the effects of food incentives, disincentives or restrictions in SNAP. One of the simulations involving incentives for foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fish and plant-based oils found to have the most substantial health benefits and be the most cost-effective. "Things like fruits and vegetables, they do tend to be more expensive, so if you incentivize them by providing more benefits … that's making the dollar go further, and it's kind of making the economic piece of this a bit stronger," Petersen said. "A lot of this is framed around personal choice. Rather than restricting access to, how can we give people more access to healthy foods? I think that's going to have the greatest benefit here." ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report. RFK Jr. has promoted 'freedom of choice' while limiting vaccines, food originally appeared on
17 hours ago
RFK Jr. has promoted 'freedom of choice' while limiting vaccines, food
Prior to becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had espoused the idea of "medical freedom," the ability of people to make personal health decisions for themselves and their families without corporate or government coercion. It's an idea supported under Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by making healthier lifestyle choices. On topics, such as vaccines, Kennedy has said he wouldn't prevent children from being able to receive vaccines but would leave the choice up to parents. "I'm a freedom-of-choice person," Kennedy told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an interview in March. "We should have transparency. We should have informed choice, and if people don't want it, the government shouldn't force them to do it." Some public health experts told ABC News, however, that the HHS has been limiting choices on some products for many Americans despite Kennedy's talk about "freedom of choice." Just last week, Kennedy announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for certain groups. Additionally, Kennedy has called on states to ban recipients of food stamps from being able to use them to purchase soda. He has also praised states for banning fluoride from public drinking water and indicated he will change federal guidance on recommending adding fluoride. The public health experts said Kennedy's actions are setting up a dichotomy on public health. "I think that RFK Jr. has done a really good job of identifying some of the problems [in public health], but it's the solutions that are problematic," Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice at Brown University School of Public Health, told ABC News. "What you're seeing with RFK Jr. and his approach to health is an individualization of public health. It's this idea that you can make decisions for your health, and that's always been true." He went on, "We need to be able to follow their guidance, not just have them tell us, 'Follow your own science.' As the focus shifts from community to individuals, we're losing a lot of that underpinning, which has led to a lot of the gains in public health." Limiting access to COVID-19 vaccines Kennedy has repeatedly stated that he is not anti-vaccine and that he supports vaccination. Shortly after Trump's election, Kennedy said in an interview with NBC News that "if vaccines are working for somebody, I'm not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information." During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he supported the childhood vaccination schedule and that he would not do anything as head of HHS that "makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines." Separately, in an opinion piece Kennedy wrote for Fox News in March on the nationwide measles outbreak, he said the measles vaccine helps protect individuals and provides "community immunity" but also called the decision to vaccinate a "personal one." However, last week, Kennedy announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC's immunization schedule for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women." The CDC's immunization schedule is not just a guide for doctors but also determines insurance coverage for most major private plans and Medicaid expansion programs. Following Kennedy's announcement, the schedule was updated noting all children would be eligible for COVID vaccines, but now under a shared-clinical decision-making model -- allowing parents to choose whether their children are vaccinated alongside advice from a doctor. "Regarding the vaccines, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told ABC News in a statement. "We are encouraging those groups to consult with their health care provider to help them make an informed decision. This is freedom of choice." "If you restrict access, you necessarily restrict choice," Dr. Matthew Ferrari, a professor of biology and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News. "Those two things are antithetical. You can't do both. You can't say you're allowing choice if you're restricting access." Ferrari said the idea of "medical freedom" is catchy, but public health recommendations are made based on how to protect the most vulnerable individuals. "If you look at the outcomes, if you look at the consequences of that movement, it has been to disproportionately restrict access to -- and restrict support and infrastructure to allow people to access -- preventive medicine," he said. "It's sort of easy to say, 'Well, take the vaccine away. But [vaccines] prevent a future outcome of illness for yourself and for others in the community." Traditionally, the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices decides if there is a benefit to a yearly vaccine and who should get it. The independent advisory committee then makes recommendations to the CDC, which has the final say. The committee was set to meet in late June to vote on potential changes to COVID vaccine recommendations. Spencer said Kennedy's bypassing of traditional avenues when it comes to changing vaccine recommendations is also taking away choice from people. "This did not go through the normal process that it should have, and he basically just made a decision for people while at the same time saying that he's going to let people make a decision," Spencer said. Restricting foods under SNAP Kennedy has also campaigned to prevent Americans from using food stamps -- provided under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- to buy candy and soda. "It's nonsensical for U.S. taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing junk that harms the health of low-income Americans," Kennedy wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last September. At a MAHA event in late May, Kennedy said the governors of 10 states have submitted waivers to the United States Department of Agriculture requesting permission to ban SNAP recipients from using benefits to buy candy and soft drinks. "The U.S. government spends over $4 trillion a year on health care," Nixon said in a statement. "That's not freedom -- it's failure. Secretary Kennedy is unapologetically taking action to reverse the chronic disease epidemic, not subsidize it with taxpayer dollars. Warning Americans about the dangers of ultra-processed food isn't an attack on choice -- it's the first step in restoring it." Nutrition experts agree that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are unhealthy. Frequent consumption of SSBs is linked to health issues such as weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, heart disease and kidney diseases, according to the CDC. Kristina Petersen, an associate professor in the department of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News there is a crisis of diet-related diseases in the U.S., which increase the risk of disability and reduces lifespan. However, she said there needs to be strong evidence of the benefits of restrictive policies if they are to be put in place. "In terms of limiting people's choices, it is important to consider all the different roles that food plays in someone's life, and so obviously we want people eating nutritious foods, but also we need to acknowledge that food is a source of enjoyment," Petersen said. "A lot of social situations revolve around food. So, when we're thinking about reducing people's access to given foods, we need to think about the consequences of that." One unintended consequence could be an eligible family not signing up for SNAP benefits because of the restrictions, she said. Even if a ban on buying candy and soda with SNAP benefits does occur, Petersen said she is not aware of any evidence that shows banning certain foods leads to healthier diets. She added that the nation's dietary guidelines are written to emphasize healthy foods like fruits and vegetable rather than telling people to avoid or restrict less healthy foods. "All foods can be consumed as part of a healthy dietary pattern. It's really just the amount and the frequency that determines whether that pattern is helpful overall or less helpful," Petersen said. "People can have small indulgences, but really, we're interested in what is their pattern over a period of time." Providing incentives for purchasing healthier foods may be more effective and still allow people to have choice, Petersen said. A 2018 study used a model simulation to study the effects of food incentives, disincentives or restrictions in SNAP. One of the simulations involving incentives for foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fish and plant-based oils found to have the most substantial health benefits and be the most cost-effective. "Things like fruits and vegetables, they do tend to be more expensive, so if you incentivize them by providing more benefits … that's making the dollar go further, and it's kind of making the economic piece of this a bit stronger," Petersen said. "A lot of this is framed around personal choice. Rather than restricting access to, how can we give people more access to healthy foods? I think that's going to have the greatest benefit here."
