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Support for child abuse prevention continues

The Logan Daily News - 4/13/2017

LOGAN - For Hocking County, the pinwheel ceremony in Worthington Park, where local agencies and community members gathered to remember the children still suffering from abuse and neglect within the county, began the National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

To honor each of the cases reported in 2016, 395 pinwheels were placed throughout Worthington Park near and around the gazebo, and those in attendance released the same number of balloons.

However, pinwheels and balloons are not the only way county agencies are showing their support for the cause to bring awareness and a stop to child abuse and neglect.

In addition to the Pinwheels for Prevention ceremony in the park, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children's Bureau released the 2016-2017 Prevention Resource Guide: Building Community, Building Hope through their website, www.childwelfare.gov.

The guide provides a variety of approaches for building hope and a sense of community through six protective factors, which are conditions or attributes that reduce or eliminate risk and promote healthy development and well being of both children and families.

The six protective factors are nurturing and attachment, knowledge of parenting and child development, parental resilience, social connections, concrete support for families, and social and emotional competence of children.

Protective factors work to counteract the risk factors individuals or families may be confronting, or provide buffers to help parents find resources and support to allow effective parenting, even under stress.

The guide states in the first chapter that there is no single "right way" to discuss or implement these protective factors, but that it is important to focus on them to best help the children and families in these situations.

All six factors and the various approaches have been developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, and the Administration on Children Youth and Families to raise awareness and commitment, use data to inform actions, create context for healthy children and families through change and various programs and policies.

Another popular event for agencies to participate in is Wear Blue Day, where individual states encourage residents to wear blue to school, work or a community event to show support for preventing child abuse and neglect on a certain day during National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Ohio Wears Blue Day is held on the second Wednesday each April and on April 12, Ohioans were encouraged to wear blue. The Public Children Services Association of Ohio (PCSAO) encouraged both agencies and community members to wear blue and post a photo to social media with the hashtag "OhioWearsBlue".

The South Central Ohio Jobs and Family Services designed blue t-shirts for employees to purchase that read "Break the Silence on Child Abuse", which the staff wore on Wednesday.

"In the future, we will look at reaching out to more of our community to get them involved," Jody Walker, Executive Director of South Central Ohio Jobs and Family Services said.

Hocking County Victim Services also distributed a flyer to local churches, encouraging the various congregations to participate in Blue Sunday on April 30.

Blue Sunday serves as a day for people of all faiths to demonstrate their support, through prayer, for children and families that have been touched by abuse, and appreciation for those who help them recover.

According to Victim Services information, five children are abused each minute, and one in 10 children will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18. The goal of the flyers is to remind the community that these incidents happen in our own community, and encourage residents to speak out.

To report that a child may be suffering from abuse or neglect, reach out to Children Services at 740-385-4168, Hocking County Victim Services at 740-385-1011, or contact local law enforcement.