With October upon us, the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) will once again be launching our Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention campaign. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness in our community about neglect and abuse; by doing so, we give the vulnerable children in our community a voice.

The main slogan of our campaign is “United Against Child Abuse and Neglect”, which speaks to the community engagement required to keep our children safe. That means that each and every person from all backgrounds in Ottawa has a shared responsibility to take care of our children.

One member of the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa who knows the importance of that message and mission is Koubinaka (Koubi). Koubi was born in Togo and came to Canada as a child. Her passion for child welfare and sense of community drew her to the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa eight years ago, and since coming to CASO, she has seen first-hand the work that the Society does, and that her passion is shared by the people she works with.

“It’s something that’s really relevant,” says Koubi. “CASO gives people a place to reach out.”

While CASO gives people a place to reach out, Koubi is also aware that work needs to be done to get that message out to the public, so that people know what resources are available to them.

“Child welfare is not working against families; it’s there to help families,” says Koubi. “The Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa is not there to tell you what to do in your own home; it’s there to work collaboratively with you to make sure things work in your home. There is no ‘we know everything, you know nothing’. The Society isn’t working against anybody; we’re trying to work as a team.”

“But working together takes willingness,” she adds. “The more involved you are with the Children’s Aid Society, the better the Society will become at helping you. The best way we can help is by learning, understanding, and appreciating the diversity that exists in Ottawa, and the best way to do that is to get involved with those communities, and for those communities to get involved with us.”

“We are trying to learn as much as we can,” Koubi continues. “The Canadian population is a diverse population; everybody has a different background. So the more we can engage each other’s communities, the better we will be able to understand and appreciate diversity.”

It is by understanding diverse communities that CASO hopes to accomplish its ultimate goal.

“At the end of the day, Child Welfare is for the protection of our children,” concludes Koubi “And the people at CASO are here to offer that protection.”

That attitude is reflected everywhere in the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa and it really comes into focus during October, when the importance of public awareness is brought to the forefront.

The campaign isn’t just an Ottawa initiative, either, it’s a provincial campaign supported by all of the Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario. This campaign is urging community members to “Speak up for Kids” and report signs of abuse or neglect. Marked by Dress Purple Day on October 16, 2015, the campaign’s main goal is to keep children and youth safe by increasing public knowledge of child abuse and neglect and the steps to take to eradicate it.

For the second year in a row, the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa is partnering with various school boards in the Ottawa area in order to spread this message to a wide range of professionals and community members. Schools across the city will be receiving campaign t-shirts and tools in the form of info sheets, posters and activity sheets for kids of all ages.

This initiative promotes awareness in children, youth and adults about the benefits of understanding the signs and symptoms of child maltreatment and how to bring them to the attention of CASO. It’s important to recognize that in the vast majority of cases in which CASO is involved, work is carried out with the family while the child remains at home.

If you are concerned about child, please break the silence. Use your voice and call the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa at (613)747-7800. You could be helping out a child in need.