What is child abuse prevention? The goal of child abuse prevention is to stop child abuse and neglect from ever happening. The best way to prevent child abuse and neglect is to support families and help parents learn the skills they need to be effective caregivers. Parenting is a learned skill. Child abuse prevention often focuses on helping parents learn how to meet the needs of their children through positive parenting and nonviolent discipline techniques. We work with partners in the public and private sectors to prevent child abuse in all its forms and develop, support and provide primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies. Primary prevention services focus on educating the general public with the goal of preventing child abuse and neglect from ever happening. Primary prevention strategies often seek to strengthen family functioning. Examples include education programs for new or expectant parents, community-based family support services, and public and professional awareness campaigns about how child abuse can be prevented. Secondary prevention services target specific at-risk groups with the goal of preventing child abuse and neglect from happening within that population. Secondary prevention strategies address the risk or early signs of violence. Examples include support groups for individuals who have experienced family violence and information and referral services that connect at-risk individuals with resources in their communities. Tertiary prevention services target groups that have experienced abuse or neglect with the goal of intervening in the violence, rehabilitating the victim and the family, and preventing the recurrence of abuse. Examples include provisional out-of-home care for children and the removal of children from the family.