Prevention Activities

No Hits, No Hurts Campaign

The MCAC is working to increase awareness about child abuse prevention by encouraging individuals and organizations to play a role in making communities a safer place for children and families.

In 2022, the MCAC kicked off the No Hits. No Hurts. campaign to raise awareness about the harms of corporal punishment.

“We hope to encourage parents to stop using physical punishment and harsh words to discipline their children," said Dr. Kristen Iniguez, Director of the Marshfield Child Advocacy Center. “Research has shown that children who are spanked at least once a month had 14-19% smaller brains in the important decision-making areas when compared to children who aren't spanked¹. Physical punishment also leads to lower IQ scores²."

Empower Me!

Empower Me! is a child abuse prevention program developed by the Zero Abuse Project that can be presented in-class to students in kindergarten through sixth grade. It is designed to help children learn about personal safety in a positive way.

Topics covered include:

• Check first with the adult in charge before going anywhere or with anyone.
• Identify five trusted adults who you consider your safety net.
• Listen to your ‘gut’ or ‘uh-oh feeling’.
• Say “no” to anyone who asks you to break a safety rule. It is never the child’s fault if someone tricks them into breaking a safety rule.
• It is OK to talk about any touches you get with a trusted adult. No touch should ever be secret.

The Marshfield Child Advocacy Center is available to present Empower Me! to classes, upon request. Contact us for more information.

Learn more about Empower Me!

National Child Abuse Prevention Month

Did you know? Every year, more than 600,000 children are found to be victims of child abuse and neglect.

Did you know? More than 1,700 children die each year in the United States as a result of child abuse and neglect.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. During this month, the Marshfield Child Advocacy Center increases awareness about this preventable tragedy and encourages individuals and organizations to play a role in making communities a better place for children and families. Throughout the month of April, we encourage all community members to wear a No Hits, No Hurts t-shirt to increase awareness about child abuse.

Period of Purple Crying

We partner with the Child Abuse Prevention Board, Celebrate Children! Foundation and the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome to educate and raise awareness in our community to prevent any child from being a child-victim of abusive head trauma.

CLICK for Babies is a grassroots campaign calling all knitters and those who crochet across North America to make purple colored baby caps, which are delivered to families in November and December alongside the Period of PURPLE Crying program. Period of PURPLE Crying is a developmental stage and normal period of crying in the first few weeks and months of life that all babies go through. This period begins at about two weeks of age, peaks in the second month and becomes less in the third to fifth month.

If you are interested in donating a cap, please print out this form and include it with your donation. As a general rule, caps should have a circumference of 13–15 inches and a height of 4-6 inches. View the cap sizing and crafting guidelines and more information at Click for Babies. If you have any questions, talk to Child Advocacy Center team.