Preventing Child Abuse

Working Towards Healthy, Emotionally Stable Children is Our Mission.

Springboard offers a full range of services to children, adolescents, and families who have experienced the effects of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. We provide a safe, trusting, and nurturing environment where individuals can begin the healing process and make the transition from victims to survivors.

A longtime leader in the treatment of emotional trauma, Springboard partners with the local Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) in  Carroll, Harford, and Howard counties, to provide on-site services to minimize the stress on both children and families. CACs are child-focused facilities where representatives from law enforcement, child protection, criminal justice, mental health, medical health, and victim advocacy work together to conduct interviews and make team decisions about investigation, treatment, management, and prosecution of child abuse cases.

Recognizing the Warning Signs of Abuse

It is common for children who are sexually abused to be so traumatized that they do not talk about it for days or months. Sometimes, behavior that is out of character can be the first indicator of a problem. Sexual abuse therapists report that the frequent warning signs include:

• Loss of appetite, recurring nightmares, disturbed sleep patterns, fear of the dark, or similar extreme changes in behavior 
• Abnormal knowledge of, or interest in, sexual matters
• Expressions of affection that are inappropriate for the child’s age​
• Fear of, or great reluctance to, being left alone with a particular person
• Aggressive, disruptive, or delinquent behavior
• Withdrawal,
• Running away
• Difficulties in school ​