National Child Protection Week
At the end of another successful National Child Protection Week, we once again honour everyone involved in giving their time and emotion to this incredibly important initiative, particularly the Child Protection Week Committee and Act for Kids.
Again, thank you also to every volunteer, every teacher, health care worker, foster carer, child safety officer, social worker, psychologist, and speech pathologist who has worked to assist vulnerable Australian children.
Every day we’re humbled and inspired by these incredible little souls, many of whom have experienced more pain in their short lives than we have in all our years. These children are the reason we’re here and why the The Pyjama Foundation came into existence.
“Nearly 20 years ago I came across a little boy of just 18 months who had just come into care. He had the worst cold I had ever seen and was wearing winter clothes in the middle of summer to cover the bruises that covered his arms and legs. He had big brown eyes, and if the eyes are the window to the soul, then his little soul had experienced far too much already. He broke my heart. I knew in that moment that I wanted to do something for kids in foster care.”
Bronwyn Sheehan
Founder & CEO of The Pyjama Foundation
Child protection is everyone’s business, and not just for one week but for every week of every year. While efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect have historically focused on improving parents’ and carers’ skills, experts increasingly recognise that children’s neighbourhoods and the communities in which they live also have profound impact on whether abuse and neglect has capacity to flourish.
Thankfully several promising Australian community initiatives, including National Child Protection Week, are proving that every person in Australia, not only has capacity but the moral responsibility, to prevent child abuse and neglect.
To learn more about our Love of Learning Program, you can read and get involved here.
