In honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month, Illuminate Colorado will be highlighting some of our statewide child abuse prevention partners in a new blog series. Follow along and learn about the different ways that individuals and organizations engage in CAP Month around the state!
Broomfield Early Childhood Council (BECC) has been participating with Child Abuse Prevention Month since April of 2011. It started with a single pinwheel garden in the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library, today it stretches across the community!
BECC provides pinwheels to all licensed child care centers, as well as all partner agencies, including doctor offices, mental health providers, health and human services departments, police departments, local food bank, and nonprofit service providers.
“These activities connect us to our community to reinforce our common mission: support families through difficult times and to keep children safe. Often, the day to day operations get overwhelming and these activities help us to reconnect and remember the importance of the message – providing support and resources to families that will lift them up and prevent child maltreatment” said Jessica Jones, Director of the Broomfield Early Childhood Council.
Prevention is the key to solving so many problems, this month helps us get this message out that we can stop child abuse and maltreatment before it starts! Family support, for all families, gets lost because we are trying to catch up to problems already manifested. Supporting the family with the Five Protective Factors will address key needs that families don’t even realize they need.
The symbol of the pinwheel is a brilliant reminder for the community to remember the family structure, and remember that we need an entire community to support healthy, thriving children!
