Jacksonville child welfare agency sheds light on MANicure movement to end child abuse

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and there’s a movement that’s trying to polish off child abuse once and for all by highlighting the national health crisis.

It’s called the MANicure movement. All you have to do is paint one nail blue to help start a conversation with the community.

Octavius Davis, the marketing and communications manager at Family Support Services of North Florida spreading awareness about child abuse one blue-painted nail at a time.

“The main stat is that 1 in 5 children experiences some form of abuse whether it’s physical, sexual, or verbal and so with the MANicure movement that’s why we’re really painting one nail blue to really illustrate that fact,” Davis said.

Davis himself is a survivor of child abuse.

It started when he was only five-years-old and continued for three years.

“My situation was one where my mom wasn’t aware of what was happening and I was so terrified of the victimizer that she didn’t find out about it until years later and when she did find out she was heartbroken,” he said.

Davis told me he suffered emotional trauma after and self-esteem and social issues.

“I was extremely quiet as a child. I had difficulties with trusting people as you can imagine,” he said.

Throughout the years and with help from counseling he overcame a lot of these challenges.

Now he’s working for Family Support Services of North Florida to help prevent child abuse.

Part of that prevention includes starting a conversation with the community and getting them involved in the MANicure movement since the signs for abuse aren’t always there.

“In my case there weren’t any physical signs that people could look at to get an indication but one of the rules of thumb is if you suspect that something is happening. If you see something say something,” Davis said.

For additional resources you can head to the Family Support Services of North Florida’s Website by clicking here.

Cox Media Group