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The sections for legislation
& advocacy are:
PCAO’s
Legislative Platform 2005-2006
Prevent Child Abuse Ohio (PCAO) will take a leadership role in promoting
public policies that protect children from abuse and neglect.
Our Legislative Platform will include:
1. Prevention of Abuse and Neglect
In Ohio, a child is abused or neglected every 10 minutes. PCAO is committed
to initiatives that protect children from all forms of child abuse –
neglect, as well as physical, sexual (including Internet child abuse),
and emotional abuse. We will advocate for initiatives that help prevent
child maltreatment, including parent support, education, training and
community prevention, and intervention programs (e.g., rehabilitation
of perpetrators).
National studies show that 79% of the time a parent is the perpetrator
of abuse and often times that abuse is due to unrealistic expectations
about parenting and about children reaching normal developmental milestones.
Given these findings, PCAO is supportive of initiatives designed to
promote healthy childhood development and effective parenting.
2. Empowerment of Families – Parent Support and Education
In Ohio, every eight hours, one child dies before his or her first birthday.
PCAO supports the implementation and continued support of initiatives
that assist parents and caregivers in coping with the stress and challenges
of caring for a newborn or young child, including the prevention of
shaken baby syndrome. Initiatives may include pre and post-natal in-hospital
education, provider-based education as well as accessible education
in the community. PCAO also supports implementing programs that start
at or before birth, such as voluntary home visitation.
3. Safe Child Care
Over 65 percent of children under the age of six in Ohio have one or
more parents in the labor force. PCAO supports initiatives that maintain
a child’s safety and well-being when they are cared for by others
in a home or center-based child care setting. Initiatives may include
expansion of education for child care providers, increased staffing,
additional monitoring of home and centers from a quality oversight perspective,
and activities designed to enhance families’ access to quality
child care environments.
4. School Safety & Family Violence Prevention
Victimized children had IQ scores 13 points below the general average
of 100 and severely depressed reading abilities. Children who are victims
of violence at home often times have difficulty performing at school
and, in some cases, can become violent toward others as a result of
the violence they have experienced. In addition, studies show a strong
linkage between the use of physical punishment and an increase children’s
violent behavior. PCAO supports initiatives that aim to ensure a child’s
safety and well-being in school, including school-based family violence
recognition and prevention programs and the elimination of corporal
punishment in all schools. PCAO also supports initiatives that expand
safe, nurturing child care centers and after-school care programs.
If you would like to view and print
a copy of our "Facing The Facts: Prevent Child Abuse Ohio's Legislative
Agenda" please, click here.
What
is advocacy?
Advocacy can be as basic as speaking on behalf of oneself or others to
get something done. For example, as child advocates we seek to ensure
that the children in our community have a voice and that their needs are
met. This can mean speaking on behalf of children and families to your
local community officials, your state-level elected officials, or your
federal policy-makers.
I. Why should you be an advocate?
The most obvious reason to be a child and family advocate is that you
care. You care about the children in our country and want them to be safe,
healthy, and happy. It follows that you want to help ensure that local,
state, and federal policy-makers adopt, implement, and maintain important
policies and programs that support children and families. In order to
ensure that these policies and programs are maintained, it is critical
to have a sustained vocal and noticeable presence at all levels of policy-making.
You can be part of that presence; and therefore, you can be part of the
effort to protect our nation’s children and families.
II. What can you do as an advocate?
a. Register to vote!! This will allow you to identify
yourself as a constituent when you talk with your legislator. This means
that you are a registered voter in that legislator’s district.
b. Become involved in the issues: Attend public
forums and debates to learn about issues and where candidates stand
on those issues.
c. Get to know your elected officials: Educate yourself
about your elected officials, their committee involvement, their voting
records, their priorities and interests. Read local publications, watch
news programs and stay informed.
d. Contact your legislators: Write, call or schedule
meetings with legislators to express your views on legislation. Sum
up your points clearly and concisely. Bring written materials to leave
with your legislator with more detailed information about the issue.
If you don’t know the answer to a question that you are asked,
offer to follow up and provide the requested information—and always
keep your word!!
e. Remember to say “thank you”: Follow
up with your legislators to express thanks when they have supported
legislation that impacts prevention of child maltreatment, even if the
bill did not pass. Let them know that you appreciate their efforts.
Also, always express appreciation to a legislator who is open to meeting
with you so you can offer any support or concerns you may have about
a proposed bill. Even if the legislator doesn’t support your viewpoint,
always follow-up with a formal thank you. This gesture also provides
an opportunity to mention points that you may have forgotten or to include
follow-up material.
f. Identify fellow advocates and partners: Form a coalition
along with other organizations that share common goals which can increase
your overall power and influence.
g. Keep PCAO involved: Send copies of correspondence
to PCAO, and let us work with you to address issues that you believe
are important to prevention of abuse and neglect.
Legislative
Tips
1. Know your legislators:
There are 99 State Representatives and 33 State Senators in Ohio. Identify
your elected official via the Internet at: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/
2. Know how to contact your legislator: Once you have
located your legislator on http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/,
you will be able to locate his or her email address and telephone number
on the same website. You can also contact House or Senate members by
calling 1-614-466-2000.
You can write your Ohio
Senator at:
The Honorable ____________
Ohio Senate
State House
Columbus Ohio 43215
You can write your State
Representative at:
The Honorable ______________
Ohio House of Representatives
77 South High Street
Columbus Ohio 43266-0603.
3. Know which committee your legislator serves on:
This information can be found via the Internet for the Ohio House at
http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Committee.jsp
and for the Ohio Senate at http://www.senate.state.oh.us/committees/
4. Keep track of any bills that you believe have the potential
of enhancing or negatively impacting child welfare.
5. Track committee meetings: If you are monitoring
a bill, you may want to attend committee hearings to hear or give testimony.
Both the Senate
committee schedule and the House
schedule can be viewed at http://www.legislature.state.oh.us.
6. Study the language of bills: Bills can be viewed
at http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/search.cfm.
It is helpful for you to know if it is a Senate or House bill. Once
you have located the bill on the Ohio legislature’s website, you
can also link to an analysis of the bill prepared by the Legislative
Service Commission and check on the bill’s status.
The
Process—How does a bill become a Law in Ohio?
1. Legislator becomes
aware of the need for the legislation: This could come from
a constituent, a policy group, an interest group or another legislator.
The proposed bill might address an unmet need or attempt to change an
existing law.
2. Legislator requests that the Legislative Service Commission
(LSC) draft a proposed bill or submit draft for review.
3. LSC drafts proposed bill for introduction into either House
or Senate. The legislator who introduces the bill is known
as the sponsor.
4. Bill is numbered and referred to House or Senate Rules and
Reference Committee which assigns the bill to a committee.
Committee holds public hearings; refers to subcommittee; amends; substitutes;
postpones; defeats or favorably reports bill. The bill is carefully
examined while in committee and hearings are held. Hearings provide
the opportunity to record the views of experts, proponents and opponents.
Testimony can be submitted in writing or offered in person.
5. The bill moves to the floor of the House or Senate for debate
and a vote. The bill is passed or defeated by all of the members
voting on the bill.
6. If passed, the bill is sent to the other house where the
process starts over.
7. If the bill passes the other house with no amendments, the
bill is signed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the
Senate and is presented to the Governor for signature.
8. If there are differences between the House and Senate versions,
a Conference Committee is appointed to reconcile differences. If the
committee cannot meet agreement, the legislation dies. If the
committee reaches agreement, the resulting bill goes to the presiding
officers for signature and then proceeds to the Governor for signature.
9. If the Governor signs the bill, it will become law.
If the Governor does not sign or veto the bill in ten days after presentation,
the act becomes law without the Governor’s signature. The Governor
may also elect to veto the bill. If the bill is vetoed, it is returned
to both houses and a vote of 3/5s of the members from each house is
necessary to override the veto.
Prevent Child Abuse America's Position Statements & Resolutions
Prevent Child Abuse America takes an official position on issues vital to the well being of our nation's children and families. If you are interested in reading their position statements and resolutions, please click here.
Prevent Child Abuse America's - Legislation Action Center
Prevent Child Abuse America offers a legislation action center for individuals interested in supporting child abuse prevention policies and legislation. If you would like to learn more about their Legislation Action Center, please click here.
Prevent
Child Abuse America's - Prevention Advocate
1. The Prevention Advocate
is the premier source for the latest information on federal policies
related to child abuse and neglect prevention.
2. If you are interested in
reading PCA America's monthly advocacy e-newsletter please read the
issues below.
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