April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, and a Jacksonville area foundation is working to spread the word and raise awareness.
The Crisis Center Foundation in Jacksonville continues to promote Child Abuse Awareness Month, which aims to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect, emphasizing the importance of families and communities working together to prevent it.
Community Educator for the Crisis Center Foundation, Naomi Trotter, says, any kind of abuse is difficult to talk about, but especially when it comes to children. “Especially in today’s society, with the things going on around the world right now, prevention is really key. So in the outreach program, we look at it as the more education and awareness we can bring to the community, the better the chances are of decreasing instances of abuse.”
According to the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Illinois, 222 cases of abuse are reported each day, and 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday, equal to 293,319 children in the state.
Trotter says children are not always the direct victims of abuse, however, the wounds can be the same. “They call the children silent witnesses. So they are overlooked a lot of times when it comes to domestic violence situations. I think it’s important for people to realize there are over three point three million children who witness some form of violent act in the home.
Children are very knowledgeable and more aware of things than we think they are. So, from our agency’s standpoint, we offer services to the victim/survivor, and we also provide the same services to children.
It can be emotional support, we can do individual counseling, we have group counseling, and we also have an excellent component, which is art therapy. With are therapy, we’re able to address those hard topics with children in a way that’s more creative. It helps them to communicate their feelings and emotions more.”
The Crisis Center Foundation continues to encourage everyone to wear blue on Fridays in support of Child Abuse Awareness Month, and is still looking for an area to place a Pinwheel Garden, which is a small area visible to the public where blue pinwheels will be place,d representing hope for any child affected by abuse.
If you are experiencing domestic or child abuse, contact the Crisis Center Foundation in Jacksonville by calling 217-243-4357. Representatives are on hand to answer, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you know or suspect someone you know is the victim of child abuse, call the Illinois Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-25-abuse. You can also find help via the Crisis Text Line at 741741.