Dee Norton Child Advocacy and Children’s Trust of South Carolina will plant pinwheels at Mount Pleasant town hall for National Child Abuse Prevention Month
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) -Mount Pleasant leaders and child abuse prevention organizations are partnering to raise awareness for National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Mayor Will Haynie works with the Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center and the Children’s Trust of South Carolina in support of efforts to raise awareness across the state.
Officials will gather at town hall at 11 a.m. Tuesday to make the declaration. Pinwheels are the national symbol of healthy childhoods for Child Abuse Prevention Month because they represent their simplicity and lightheartedness. Officials will plant a pinwheel garden in observance of the town’s prevention awareness.
Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center Executive Director Beverly Hutchison says the pinwheels will remind people that a happy, healthy and safe community is a must.
“We will literally be putting blue and silver pinwheels in the ground in a garden shape to catch your eye as you’re driving down the road and serve as that reminder that it’s the adults job to take care of children,” Hutchison says. “That whimsical toy that we remember from childhood is truly a symbol of what we want for all of our children.”
Hutchison says pinwheels are just one way they work to make people aware in the community. She says the work doesn’t end in April as they work all year long towards prevention awareness.
Hutchison says parents can use prevention efforts like setting boundaries at home and encouraging open communication with their child in case anything happens. She says child abuse is a grown-up problem and encourages parents to learn more, speak up and be advocates for the children in their families and communities.
“Prevention works. Communities that talk about this important issue where adults in children’s lives are equipped with knowledge…it does make an impact. Children are safer if we do the work we need to do as adults.”
The advocacy center plans to work in the community at events and press conferences to promote Child Abuse Prevention Month. The center plans to partner with the Charleston County Library system for child safety events.
