PARSIPPANY — April 1 is the start of Child Abuse Prevention Month. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany started the campaign by setting up pinwheel gardens and displays, with the first at the Parsippany Town Hall. Followed by several other displays around town to help raise awareness in our community by turning your attention to the importance of ensuring great childhoods for all children because our children are our future. In addition, Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor James Barberio will be issuing a Proclamation at the Council Meeting on Tuesday, April 4, designating April as “Child Abuse Prevention Month.”
While Child Abuse Prevention Month is underway, Kiwanis highlight the importance of ensuring great childhoods for all children because our children are our future. The theme of the 2023 campaign is “Growing a Better Tomorrow for All Children, Together.” The community garden metaphor reinforces the message that “Every day, we help families and children thrive.”
All throughout April, you will see pinwheels on display around the Parsippany and Lake Hiawatha areas as the symbol of this very thought…that all children deserve a great childhood because they are our future.
And while the pinwheel can do many things — bring smiles, lift spirits, call for healthy starts for all children — the one thing it cannot do is move on its own. Be the force that makes it move, bringing about real change for children in the United States. Protecting our children is everyone’s job…it’s your turn to make a difference!
Since 1983, April has been a time to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse. As we look upon the faces of the many children in our communities and think about all of the children worldwide that suffer at the hands of others, let’s remember that April may be child abuse prevention month, but unfortunately, abuse happens every day. That is why every year, during April, communities across the country come together to focus on this startling issue and the need for widespread prevention and public awareness campaigns to reduce the number of children who are abuse victims. Sadly, there were 3.6 million cases of child abuse reported in the US. Approximately five children a day die every year in the US due to child abuse or neglect. Out of those 1825 children that died as a result of abuse or neglect, 45% are younger than one year old, 31% are from ages 1-3, 11% are 4-7, 6% are ages 8-11, 5% ages 12-15 and 2% are aged 16-17.
Karen DeChristopher, Kiwanis Director of “Young Children Priority One” programs, said, “As an organization that continues to focus on children, there is one goal that we are looking to achieve…to raise awareness of the many ways people can get involved in the fight against child abuse: First, we can get educated, so you can learn to recognize the signs of child abuse, so you can be that one person with the courage to step up for these children and report abuse when you suspect it. Secondly, you can volunteer or support your child advocacy centers (Prevent Child Abuse-NJ) by calling to determine how you can support them because every children’s advocacy center can benefit from your support for the programs and services they provide to child victims of abuse and neglect. And lastly, but most importantly, we must help break the silence surrounding child abuse by raising awareness and spreading the word. These children deserve a voice because this problem has been overlooked for far too long, and you can open the doors to this crime of secrecy because we can all make a difference for these children.
To learn more about what you can do to help prevent child abuse, contact Pamela Stalcup, Director of Development & Communications for Prevent Child Abuse-New Jersey, at (732) 246-8060 or visit them on the web at www.preventchildabusenj.org.
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