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Board proclaims April Child Abuse Prevention Month after Children's Advocacy Center report
Summary
Kathy Rourke of the Children's Advocacy Center told the Smyth County board the center has provided 495 investigative interviews for county children since 2014; the board unanimously adopted a draft proclamation to recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month and accepted the center's invitation to a pinwheel planting event.
Kathy Rourke, speaking for the Children's Advocacy Center, thanked Smyth County officials for their partnership and urged the board to join the center in recognizing April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. Rourke said the agency has provided 495 investigative interviews for children in the county since their partnership began in 2014 and described increased online exploitation among youth as a growing local concern.
"Blue pinwheels are the national symbol of Child Abuse Prevention Month," Rourke said, and she invited board members to a pinwheel-planting event next Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the center's Terrace Drive office. A draft resolution to proclaim April as Child Abuse Awareness Month was in the board packet; a motion to adopt the proclamation was made and approved unanimously.
Why it matters: the resolution formalizes the county's recognition of prevention efforts and highlights multi-agency cooperation among the Commonwealth Attorney's Office, law enforcement, the Department of Social Services, schools and victim-witness programs. Rourke encouraged display of the pinwheel sign in prominent county facilities and thanked county employees and partner agencies for their work with children.
