April is National Child Abuse Prevention month - an unfortunate reminder that child abuse - in all its forms - continues to be a persistent problem.
Missoula's Teresa Nygaard and Katie Peterson are all too familiar with the issue. Nygaard is executive director of "The Parenting Place", a local program that provides a variety of services; chief among them strengthening families by providing classes to build parenting skills. Peterson is a city police detective who specializes in investigating sexual crimes committed against children.
Peterson also volunteers on The Parenting Place board of directors.
In this evening's feature interview with Edward O'Brien, Nygaard and Peterson discuss the causes of child abuse, it's prevalence and what can be done to reduce these crimes. Nygaard says abuse falls into three general categories: physical violence, sexual and psychological abuse.