Community Leaders Spotlight
Child Abuse and Neglect
April 2, 2009 --
More than 6,400 colorful
pinwheels – each representing a report of child abuse or neglect to
Hamilton County’s 241-KIDS hotline – were planted near the
Underground Railroad Freedom Center today in an attempt to draw
attention to one of the area’s more horrific problems.
Pinwheels for Prevention is part of
Prevent Child Abuse Ohio’s statewide campaign to promote awareness
and prevention of child abuse. Many citizens are unaware of how
widespread the child abuse problem is in their local communities.
The latest nationwide and state statistics on child abuse are
startling:
• Slightly more than 900,000 children in the
United States are determined to be abused or neglected each year.
• Approximately 1,500 children die each year from
abuse or neglect.
• Abuse was substantiated or indicated in
investigations concerning 40,000 Ohio children, and 74 children died
from that abuse.
"Our 6,437 pinwheels depict this
problem in a very dramatic way," said Moira Weir, director of the
Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services, which
operates the child abuse reporting hotline. "Each represents the
innocence of childhood, an innocence that is often shattered by
abuse and neglect.
"We work with nearly 20,000 children
a year in Hamilton County. This is unacceptable. I say this every
year: I dream of a day when there are no pinwheels to plant."
Hamilton County joins all 88 Ohio
counties participating in Pinwheels for Prevention as a kick off to
Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. Representatives from several
local agencies assisting in the fight against child abuse will
answer questions from the media at 9:30 a.m., while students from
Cincinnati Public Schools plant the colorful pinwheels.
This year’s Pinwheels event is
sponsored by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Hamilton
County’s Department of Job and Family Services, Hamilton County’s
Family and Children First Council, the Council on Child Abuse of
Southern Ohio, Inc.,
the Cincinnati Police Department, the
Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department and Prevent Child Abuse Ohio.
Foster care posters available for schools, businesses,
churches
March 27, 2009 -- Schools, businesses, places of worship and
the like can help spread the word about the need for foster
parents by placing a new poster from the Hamilton County
Department of Job and Family Services in their buildings.
The posters point out that foster parents can help bring
forth the potential inside an abused or neglected child.
School districts in Deer Park
and Norwood already have agreed to put the posters in their
buildings.For a poster, please
call (513) 632-6366 or e-mail cummijo2@jfs.hamilton-co.org. |
