Spring is Here and so is Child Abuse Prevention Month

Spring is Here and so is Child Abuse Prevention Month

Spring is here! As you look around you see flowers blooming, trees are budding, birds are singing, and the freshness of Spring is in the air. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. For the past 11 years our community has honored children by planting blue pinwheels in honor of child abuse prevention. The pinwheel represents the bright future that every child deserves.

The Child Advocacy Center received a total of 876 reports of child abuse during FY 19/20, a 20% increase over FY 18/19.  Currently we are continuing to see those numbers increase as well.  Below is a table comparing data from July 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019 with July 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020:

Reports Received for Suspected Abuse

*more than 1 type of abuse can be reported for a single case

This has been a difficult year on so many levels due to the pandemic. Covid-19 has brought about so many changes, as well as uncertainty. These challenges have brought about more time at home, more time on electronic devices and less time being able to safely socialize with friends in general. Children in our community have not been inside a classroom since March 13, 2020.

Jeanne Allert, CEO and Founder of The Samaritan Women, in Baltimore Maryland presented a webinar about Victimology: Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, and shared that professionals are already discussing the impact the pandemic may have on children and families once children begin to re-engage in a more traditional school schedule. Educators account for 50% of reports of child abuse.

This year, 2021, we want more than ever to have a significant presence with pinwheels heavily displayed throughout our community. We want to cohesively and prominently show that our community supports children. April is an ideal time for our community to reflect and to recognize the children who have been victimized through the pain of abuse—physical, emotional and/or sexual.

April is also a time to look forward – a time to be a part of ensuring that every child has a bright future. All children deserve to grow up in loving, stable, and stimulating environments, in their home, church, school and in the community. Most of all, we want childhoods to be a time when children no longer live in fear. 

Our vision is a community where children feel safe, nurtured, and loved. April is a time to remind us that no matter the challenges, to include a global pandemic, we face as individuals, caring for all our children must always be our priority. 

You can join us in promoting healthy childhoods for our children. You can purchase a pinwheel garden kit (24 pinwheels and a yard sign) for $40 or a Pinwheel Vase (eight pinwheels in a vase with ribbon) for $15. Visit our website CACFayNC.org to place your order. Once you plant your garden of pinwheels or display your pinwheel vase, tag us on your social media, include the following hashtags – #passthepinwheel, #cacfayncpinwheels2021, #pinwheelsforprevention

During the month of April, the CAC will be hosting “Read-Along Story Times” on Tuesday of each week. We will be reading books that talk about body safety, boundaries and how to say no when the child feels uncomfortable.  You can view these on the CAC’s Facebook & Instagram pages or on our website CACFayNC.org. These are great opportunities to talk with your child about appropriate touching and setting boundaries. Research has shown, it is better to start teaching children about body safety when they are young and to continue throughout their childhood. It is never too late to begin.

This April and throughout the year, let’s all join together to provide help, hope and healing to children who have been victimized by abuse. Join us in creating a community (and beyond) where children feel safe to run and play, where all children feel love and accepted versus living in fear. We hope to see blue pinwheels spinning in the sun and throughout our community this April reminding us all that EACH child deserves a happy childhood.

For more information about April and Child Abuse Prevention, including how to become involved in prevention, follow us on our social media outlets of Facebook and Instagram and/or our website.  Happy Pinwheel Planting!