On April 2, SafeSpace Children’s Advocacy Center of the Gorge volunteers Eileen Wendell, Claire McMahon, and Carme Brown, Trout Lake School, installed 800 pinwheels on the north lawn behind the Hood River County Library. The pinwheels represent the more than 800 children seen at SafeSpace Advocacy Center since its opening opened in 2009. Shelley Toon Lindberg, executive director for Arts in Education of the Gorge, came up with the concept of having pinwheels mimic the Columbia River, flowing through the lawn.Â
On April 2, SafeSpace Children’s Advocacy Center of the Gorge volunteers Eileen Wendell, Claire McMahon, and Carme Brown, Trout Lake School, installed 800 pinwheels on the north lawn behind the Hood River County Library. The pinwheels represent the more than 800 children seen at SafeSpace Advocacy Center since its opening opened in 2009. Shelley Toon Lindberg, executive director for Arts in Education of the Gorge, came up with the concept of having pinwheels mimic the Columbia River, flowing through the lawn.Â
Nearly 700,000 children are abused in the U.S. each year. No group of children is immune — both boys and girls are likely to experience neglect, sexual and physical abuse. However, girls are four times more likely to experience sexual abuse.
Locally, SafeSpace Children’s Advocacy Center of the Gorge, formerly known as Columbia Gorge Children’s Advocacy Center, has been working with law enforcement and child protective services to provide a safe and healing place for child victims to tell their stories of abuse. Since 2009, SafeSpace has seen more than 800 children from Hood River, Wasco, Gilliam, Wheeler, and Klickitat counties.
SafeSpace Children’s Advocacy Center provides a single point of contact for child abuse victims. SafeSpace offers trauma informed care in their child-friendly center. The child victim of abuse is interviewed by a highly skilled forensic interviewer and a medical exam is conducted by doctors who specialized in child abuse. The child and family continue to have support from an advocate and referral to mental health counseling.
In 2008, Prevent Child Abuse introduced the pinwheel as the national symbol for child abuse prevention, and it has come to serve as the physical reminder for healthy childhoods that we all want for our children. The installation of pinwheels on the Hood River County Library lawn represents one of the more than 800 children seen at SafeSpace for child abuse assessment.
This past year has been challenging for everyone, but it has been especially difficult for children who may have been home with an abusive person without an outlet to ask for help. Please join SafeSpace in focusing on awareness of child abuse throughout the month of April. For more information, or ways to support our children, log on to www.safespacecac.org.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.