Resident Discusses Child Abuse Prevention With Arlington Heights Board

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — For the past 30 years, Sue Walton has volunteered for Children's Home & Aid, a Chicago-based agency that serves nearly 30,000 children and families annually in more than 65 Illinois counties. The Arlington Heights resident and educator, who founded the agency's Blue Bow campaign in 1994, is an advocate for children who have been abused.

"The awareness program allows us an opportunity to think about it and allows us an opportunity to reach out to parents and help them find answers, not discipline and punishment that hurts their children," Walton said at Monday night's Arlington Heights Village Board meeting.

April has been designated Child Abuse Prevention Month in the United States since 1983. Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes recognized this and Walton at the meeting by reading a proclamation from the Village. According to the proclamation, there were 36,146 indicated cases of child abuse and neglect in Illinois last year, a number that continues to escalate.

"She's very passionate about this issue and we thank her for being here tonight," Hayes said of Walton, who had Children's Home & Aid's annual Blue Bow Award renamed after her in 2019.

Every April, Children’s Home & Aid's Blue Bow Committee gives the Walton Blue Bow Award for significant contribution to the prevention of child abuse and neglect.

According to Walton, just in the northern region of Illinois alone, there are more than 10,000 child abuse cases reported and substantiated abuse annually.

Walton said Parents Care & Share, a parent support program of Children's Home & Aid, provides free support to families.

"All citizens should become more aware of child abuse within the community and to become involved in its prevention and supporting parents to raise their children in a safe, nurturing environment," Hayes read from the proclamation, which was signed by him and the trustees.

To learn more about Children's Home & Aid, visit here.