Advocates For Children Use Events To Educate Community About Child Abuse

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April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Advocates for Children will host several activities throughout the month to increase awareness and help educate the community on how abuse and neglect can be prevented.

At 10 a.m. April 10, members of the Advocates staff will place blue pinwheels in the lawn of the gold dome courthouse. The blue pinwheel serves as the state and national symbol for the prevention of child abuse. It also represents the healthy and happy childhoods and bright futures all children deserve.

Signs with messages that represent the voices of children who have suffered abuse and neglect will be placed alongside the pinwheels as a reminder of the unfortunate fact that abuse and neglect still occur.

Pinwheel gardens and signage will also be on display on the lawns of local businesses and Advocates corporate partners to help educate and publicize the message across the county.

Advocates employees on April 17 will take to the intersection of Erwin Street and Cherokee Avenue to pass out information in the form of favicards to help educate citizens about the prevention of child abuse.

Favicards are small business cards for social networks, a new twist on traditional business cards that promote personal or corporate social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and Flickr.

Sandra Deal, the first lady of Georgia, will be in Cartersville as part of Prevent Child Abuse Awareness month. She will begin her day with a visit to Advocates’ Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) on Douglas Street with an observance of a Triple P parenting class, which is part of Advocates’ Hope in Your Home program.

After a visit to the Bartow County Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) office, Mrs. Deal will arrive at the Advocates for Children administrative offices and Flowering Branch Children’s Shelter to view a pinwheel garden, tour the Shelter and observe Commissioner Steve Taylor and Cartersville Mayor Matt Santini sign a proclamation declaring April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

“We are honored that the First Lady chose us for her visit.,” said Patty Eagar, CEO and President of Advocates for Children. “She really wants to see our parenting program, Hope in Your Home, in action, and to visit one of the dozen or so pinwheel gardens that Advocates will have around the county this year. Communities all over the state and across the country will be planting pinwheels, and we are excited that she wants to see ours.”

To wrap up the activities for the awareness month, Advocates will host the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber Bartow Business Women’s monthly luncheon at the Advocates for Children administrative offices and Flowering Branch Children’s Shelter.

Attendees will enjoy lunch on the lawn of the Shelter along with a brief presentation about the programs that make up the Advocates name. After lunch, participants will be taken on a tour of Flowering Branch Children’s Shelter where up to 13 children are housed through placement by DFCS or the Runaway Homeless Youth (RHY) program.

Residents who want to attend the luncheon can make a reservation by contacting the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce office. Advocates for Children administers eight programs with 42 employees and serves more than 3,000 children and families each year.

Advocates is unique in the services they provide with no duplication of services in Bartow County. The treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect is in every service provided by Advocates.

Advocates for Children strengthens our community of families by offering safety, comfort and hope to children and preventing child abuse in all its forms. To learn more about Advocates and the services they offer, call (770) 387-1143 or visit www.AdvoChild.org.

Photo credit: Advocates for Children