Observing Children’s Awareness Month

The month of June is internationally celebrated as Children’s Awareness Month (or CAM).

Originally founded in the late 90’s as a time to memorialize American children who were victims of violence, Children’s Awareness Month has evolved into something even greater.

History of Children’s Awareness Month

Following its founding, starting in the 2000’s, CAM’s focus shifted to both honoring childhood and supporting children throughout their development in a multitude of ways. A few of these overarching goals include advocating for better emotional and physical health for children, along with better economic circumstances.

As the movement grew during the 2010’s, CAM began to prioritize the future of our world, and the pivotal role that children play. Later, in the 2020’s, governments worldwide made preventing child exploitation another priority for Children’s Awareness Month.

Today, along with its original purpose, Children’s Awareness Month has grown to be an opportunity to empower our world’s children, as well as pave the way to a better future for kids across the globe.

Children’s Awareness Month Outside of the United States

Internationally, June is still observed as a dedicated time to celebrate children and the importance of youth around the world. In addition to Children’s Awareness Month, another youth-focused movement that is observed during June is International Children’s Month.

International Children’s Month chooses a different theme to center on each year. Past years’ themes have included teamwork, Earth stewardship, grace and resilience, and more. For June of 2023, the designated theme is “International Children Love World Peace 2023.”

Led by Youth Ambassadors from varying regions of the world, International Children’s Month is an opportunity to share relevant projects, initiatives, and art, as well as get organizations involved in furthering the goal of each year’s theme.

Just as International Children’s Month was created to prioritize all of the world’s children, and not just those in the United States, it is equally important to recognize children with developmental disabilities during the month of June.

Developmental Disabilities + Children’s Awareness Month

Here at Adam’s Camp, we are especially invested in being impactful advocates for children with developmental disabilities. That’s why during this year’s Children’s Awareness Month, we want to shine a well-deserved light on the children in our lives who have developmental disabilities.

Information surrounding our understanding of developmental disabilities changes over time, just like anything else. Currently, the percentage of children who get diagnosed with a developmental disability is steadily rising. This is likely due to more research being done on the subject and thus more specific diagnostic criteria being utilized.

As studies progress throughout the years, our knowledge of developmental disabilities will continue to adapt and change. This pursuit of better understanding of children with disabilities is a critical goal to strive towards – and is one that can be related back to CAM.

The values of Children’s Awareness Month are all about finding ways to create a better future for children – and kids with disabilities are no different than anyone else. As a vulnerable population, however, these children often need intentional care and advocacy that is more specialized than other kids.

Ways to Observe, Advocate, and Celebrate

Observing and celebrating CAM is something that people should be free to make their own. This can be spending some extra quality time with the children in your life, lending a hand to a child in need, doing community work such as volunteering, or anything else that helps you connect with and support youth.

Advocacy, on the other hand, can be more variable and depends on individual children’s needs. For children with developmental disabilities, advocacy is often complex and multifaceted, requiring a deep understanding of both the disabled community and the individual impacts you can make.

As defined in one of our previous blogs, “advocacy aims to give all individuals in society a voice and highlight issues that are significant to them.” The emphasis in that sentence should be on empowering individuals to have their OWN voice, and not “speaking” for them.

This could look like prioritizing the opinions and beliefs of people without disabilities over those with them, infantilizing people with disabilities, or taking on a role that more closely resembles “savior” than “advocate.” While these actions are not always malicious or even intentional, it is still crucial to understand just how harmful they can be.

Click here for more tips on positive and productive advocacy for children with disabilities.

Click here for tips that focus on advocating for young students with special needs.

For a list of resources and government agencies that help people with disabilities, including children, visit this website from Health and Human Services.

Looking to the Future

At Adam’s Camp, we make the needs of children with developmental disabilities a priority all year long. We hope that this article inspired you to show the children in your life some extra love this month – and to look inward at the ways in which you can best support children today and in the future.

The Adam’s Camp mission is to realize the potential and develop the strengths of children, youth, and adults with disabilities. We do this through unique adventure and therapy programs with the help of committed counselors, therapists, and volunteers who all work together to create a safe, fun, and supportive environment for people with disabilities.

Feel free to reach out to us with any questions about how we support our community – and enjoy the rest of Children’s Awareness Month!