Press release
East Texans are invited to take a stand against child abuse and neglect by attending a noon ceremony Tuesday, April 5, on the west lawn of the courthouse square in Athens.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time to recognize the nearly 200,000 Texas children reported abused or neglected each year to Child Protective Services (CPS). Judge Richard Sanders will sign a proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention Month at the April 5 event.
Area nonprofits, child welfare workers and elected officials will come together at the ceremony to plant pinwheels in honor of local victims, including one Henderson County child who died last year as a result of abuse. The speaker will be Barry Boatwright, senior pastor of Christian Life Center in Gun Barrel City. He and his wife, Tanyau, are foster and adoptive parents.
The East Texas Crisis Center will sponsor a clothesline display honoring victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, as April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Each shirt on the clothesline will represent one victim served in Henderson County last year.
“No child ever asks to be abused or neglected,” said Leslie Saunders, executive director of the Henderson County HELP Center. “It’s up to everyone to look out for the children in our community.”
The HELP Center, which offers medical exams, mental health services, case management and more, served 430 primary and secondary victims of child abuse in 2015. CPS in Henderson County reported 373 confirmed cases of abuse or neglect last year, and 139 children were removed from their homes as a result.
For more information on how to prevent child abuse, how to get help with parenting skills or what to do if you suspect abuse, visit www.itsuptoyou.org or www.onewithcourage.org.
To report child abuse or neglect in Henderson County, call the state’s reporting hotline at 1-800-252-5400. The HELP Center can be reached at (903) 675-4357.