April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

It is a time to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse.

No child should have to suffer abuse, and no parent should be left in the dark about whether a caregiver has a history of abuse.

Parents deserve to know if the person they are entrusting to care for their child has been convicted of child abuse. That is why I am proud to be co-sponsoring bipartisan measures to help ensure parents have access to this critical information.

Senate Bills 261-263, known as “Wyatt’s Law,” would create and maintain a registry for those convicted of child abuse.

Under the bills, the Michigan State Police would create a database entry for each person registered under the proposed Child Abuse Offenders Registry Act.

The MSP would also create a public website separate from the database with public information on offenders, including their names, home address and summaries of their child abuse convictions.

Inspiration for the bills came when the mother of Wyatt, the bill’s namesake, approached the Legislature following the abuse of her 18-month-old son at the hands of his father’s girlfriend. Wyatt suffered Shaken Baby Syndrome and almost died. He suffered a fractured skull, permanent brain damage and was left blind in one eye.

The mother had petitioned for sole custody due to unease about the father’s new girlfriend, but there was no way for her to check if the woman was a danger to her son. She was unable to find out until it was too late that the woman had twice before been convicted of child abuse.

A searchable database could give parents free access to important information to help keep their children safe and prevent tragedies like what happened to Wyatt.

Indiana recently passed a similar law, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to bring this additional layer of protection to Michigan.

It’s an opportunity to help protect our children, and there is nothing more important than that.

Sen. John Proos, R-St. Joseph, represents southwest Michigan.