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Upstate News

SUNY Upstate joins forces with Onondaga County, McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Site and others to increase awareness about child abuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – SUNY Upstate Medical University has joined forces with Onondaga County and the McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Site to increase awareness of child abuse in the local community. Reports of child abuse made to the Onondaga County Child Abuse Hotline rose more than 6 percent in 2005 to 4,775. Officials say the rise in calls is a positive indication that awareness of child abuse issues is growing, but they stress that cases of child abuse-both sexual abuse and neglect-are underreported.

The three organizations introduced an awareness campaign to highlight April’s designation as National Child Abuse Awareness Month. The campaign urges the community to wage war against child abuse by ensuring that every member of the community keeps its collective eyes and ears open to the signs of abuse.

The monthlong awareness campaign includes public presentations by University Hosptial’s Child Abuse Referral and Evaluation to help caregivers and others to identify and report child abuse cases.

Also planned are poster displays at area supermarkets and schools, and banners hung across the city will urge the community to “keep every child safe.”

For more information on the CARE program, visit http://www.upstate.edu/uh/peds/care/