Volunteers planted gardens of sparkling blue pinwheels Friday around downtown Vancouver, part of a national effort to raise awareness for child abuse prevention, and, in part, to point out work done locally at the county’s Children’s Justice Center.
Volunteers bearing thousands of pinwheels placed them around Esther Short Park, Main Street and city and county buildings.
Pinwheels have been a part of child abuse prevention and awareness campaigns during April, when child welfare advocates work to spread the message, for years.
“Which is what it’s about, so that communities, for that month, can really join in solidarity, for the commitment that we really do our bit to protect our children, all the children, in the community,” said Mary Blanchette, the executive director at the Children’s Justice Center.
Although the numbers have generally been declining over the years, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, child protection agencies nationwide still received an estimated 3.6 million referrals in 2014, involving 6.6 million children.
That year, an estimated 1,580 children died from abuse or neglect, the agency said, and about 70 percent of those children were under 3 years old.
“This is our opportunity to be out with the public and say, ‘Here’s what you look for, here’s what you can do, here’s how you can help,’ ” Justice for Children board member Pat Jollota said.
The board works to support and highlight the center’s work to help children and families affected by child abuse.
“When something happens to a child, the neighbors say, ‘I always thought something was wrong, but I was afraid to say anything,’ and we want them to know it’s OK to say something,” Jollota said.
This is the first year the Children’s Justice Center and Justice for Children board have done a pinwheel campaign. Individuals and community members could sponsor the gardens, and money raised through the pinwheel gardens will go to the center.
Much of the center’s resources come from donations or community involvement.
The staff keeps a cupboard of quilts stitched by local quilters to comfort frightened children.
Local businesses helped provide colorful decor to help put kids at ease.
Donors and businesses raised the money to acquire Tabitha, the center’s therapy dog.
The pinwheels were placed to coincide with the First Friday art walk, and in that spirit, Blanchette said, she’s planning to put the money raised with the pinwheel gardens toward art therapy programs for children. She said she has already connected with a licensed art therapist.
The center is one of 600 of its type nationwide, and was the first in the county when it opened in 1990.
The nationally accredited center houses publicly and privately employed caseworkers and experts in the field of child welfare, Blanchette said.
The idea, she said, is that having resources for child welfare, as well as people who work in law enforcement, social services and other related fields, centralized in one location will lead to better outcomes for more children.
Many, board member Danette Lachapelle said, “don’t realize child abuse does happen in Clark County and we have this marvelous center to help deal with it. To help prosecute it, to give assistance to children and families that are affected by it.”
Last year, the center fielded 1,973 reports of felony child abuse and completed 334 investigations.
Center staffers’ work contributed to the convictions and sentencing for 201 accused child abusers, totaling 480 years’ confinement.
“It’s not really something that people want to know about,” Blanchette said. “It’s hard to talk about it without getting visceral and people wanting to not listen.”
