National Be Someone Day Date in the current year: July 21, 2024

Child abuse happens more often than you might think. Contrary to a popular misconception, it is not something that can only happen in low income areas and troubled families. It can affect children of any age, gender, race and religion, in all types of families and communities. The five most recognized forms of child abuse are physical abuse, emotional (psychological) abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and bullying.

National Be Someone Day was launched by Project Harmony, a Nebraska-based organization committed to providing support to child abuse victims and ending the cycle of child abuse and neglect. Project Harmony founded Project Be Someone to encourage children to reach out to adults they trust if bad things happen to them and to encourage adults to report child abuse even if they aren’t mandated reporters.

According to Project Be Someone, a report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds. What can you do in 10 seconds? You can tie your shoes. Take a selfie. Tweet something. Water a plant. Order a cup of coffee. Compliment someone. Tell a joke or laugh at one. Or you can take a pledge and commit to reporting child abuse; it only takes 10 seconds to make a difference in a child’s life and change it for the better.

Project Be Someone has developed five simple steps that will help you recognize child abuse and react to it when you see its signs or when an abused child turns to you for help.

Learn the facts about child abuse. As we’ve already mentioned, child abuse can happen in any community and in any family. In more than half of all cases, children are abused by people their family trusts. Knowing these and other facts about child abuse will help you keep an open mind when looking for the signs of abuse.

Minimize the opportunity for abuse. The majority of sexual abuse cases toward children occur in one-on-one situations. By preventing children from being alone with an adult or older youth, you reduce the risk of abuse.

Talk about boundaries and abuse in age appropriate terms. Children often stay silent about abuse because they’re ashamed to talk or don’t know how to do it. Talking to them about boundaries, healthy relationships and that no means no can encourage children to speak up if something bad happens to them.

Know the signs of abuse. Not all sighs of child abuse are physical and obvious; they can be emotional/behavioral and very subtle. It is important to know what exactly you are looking for in order notice the signs of abuse and neglect in a child who is afraid to speak up.

React calmly and responsibly. Noticing the signs of child abuse or hearing a child’s confession about being abused may fill you with rage, but you need to stay calm and keep a cool head for the child’s sake.

How can you observe National Be Someone Day? You can take the pledge to learn the signs of child abuse and look out for the children in your community, donate to Project Harmony or any other organization that strives to end child abuse, and raise awareness of the observance on social media using the hashtag #BeSomeoneDay.