Blue Landscape: Child Advocates of Fort Bend and community partners working together to bring awareness. Photo courtesy of Child Advocates of Fort Bend.
If you are driving around Fort Bend County, you might notice a lot of blue in the landscape these days.
Child Advocates of Fort Bend is partnering with others to blanket the county in blue this April for Child Abuse Prevention Month. On Friday, March 31st Child Advocates of Fort Bend (CAFB) teamed with the City of Richmond to kick off April National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month with a fun, family friendly evening at Wessendorff Park in Richmond. The park was full of blue pinwheels, a symbol of child abuse prevention, and guests were encouraged to take them.
CAFB CEO Ruthanne Mefford and Board President David Lanagan sent a powerful message of action to learn the signs, speak up when a situation doesn’t look right and to report abuse. Richmond Mayor Pro Tem, Alex BeMent read a proclamation to declare April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Child Advocates of Fort Bend is also partnering with local Exchange Clubs to help blanket the county in blue to bring awareness. Exchange Club of Sugar Land is tying blue ribbons around trees in Sugar Land. On Monday, April 3rd Child Advocates of Fort Bend teamed with Exchange Club of Fort Bend, The Fort Bend District Attorney’s Office and Fort Bend County Judge KP George for the dedication of an awareness field in front of the historic Fort Bend County Courthouse. Judge George read a proclamation declaring April as Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month.
A second awareness field is located at the Stafford Triangle at Present Street and Highway 90A. At the second ceremony, Stafford Mayor Cecil Willis read a proclamation declaring April Child Abuse Prevention Month and Zakia Lalani, wife of State Representative Dr. Suleman Lalani, read proclamations for Child Advocates of Fort Bend and the Exchange Club of Fort Bend. The fields have 2,380 stakes with blue ribbons on them, which represents one for every child abused in Fort Bend County and served by Child Advocates of Fort Bend last year.
Although child abuse knows no season, April is designated as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. There are many ways to participate in Child Abuse Prevention Month, including wearing a blue ribbon, helping to pass out blue ribbons, posting child abuse prevention month materials in your place of business, attending a training about how you can be a safe adult for children and inviting Child Advocates of Fort Bend to talk to your group about child abuse. For more information about April Child Abuse Prevention Month activities, go to www.cafb.org or call 281-341-9955. To request a speaker go to https://www.cafb.org/programs/community-education/speaker-requests/ or contact Lindsey at LCastellanos@cafb.org.