Child Abuse Prevention Month means a lot to us here at Hephzibah. It’s an opportunity to invite our community of supporters into the heart of what we do, shedding a light on the ugly reality at the heart of our mission statement: child abuse and neglect is an everyday occurrence within our communities. As of March 31st, there have been 61,143 investigations conducted by the Illinois Department for Children and Family services (DCFS) in 2025. This statistic contributes to the nearly 3 million child abuse investigations filed annually in the United States.
These are just a few of those stories:
Bintou is a single mother raising her daughter, Caddie. Being neurodivergent, Caddie had difficulties in school leading to frequent disruptions not only in their life, but with Bintou’s employment. Facing unimaginable hardship that threatened her ability to care for her child, Bintou turned to Hephzibah.
“They’ll take you from nowhere and put you somewhere. Look at me!” – Bintou
For Alicia, parenting her four children was a daily struggle. Alicia didn’t have the tools to parent her children when they needed support – or realize the harm caused by her tumultuous relationship with their father – due to her own history as an abused and neglected child.
“It was difficult to show love to my kids when I never got love, that’s how I saw it.” – Alicia
As a single parent with limited resources, Jamara was doing her best to raise her son Quadar. Due to unexpected circumstances threatening to uproot the happy life she was trying to create for her small family, Jamara turned to Hephzibah for stability and the reassurance that her son would remain in her care.
“Hephzibah is here to help you be a better mom, so you can see yourself and be there for your kids.” – Jamara
In 1981, Hephzibah launched foster care and child welfare programs to protect children from neglect and abuse, introducing a comprehensive array of services to keep families in crisis intact wherever possible. Today, our Intact Family Services case workers are serving around 100 families, often plunging into the abusive environments to support children and their parents. With your help, we’ll be able to continue our work for years to come.
Set up a recurring donation, or check out Hephzibah’s prevention services