By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Punctuating the importance of April’s designation as Child Abuse Prevention Month, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services announced this week 220 Texas children died in 2008 from abuse or neglect at the hands of their parents, guardians or caregivers.

Events will be held throughout the country and state bringing attention to child abuse, and Cherokee County is no exception. A Blue Ribbon Rally is being held at noon Tuesday on the lawn of the Cherokee County Courthouse.

According to Shirley Reese, chairperson for the Cherokee County Child Welfare Board, many agencies that deal with family crisis are involved in this year’s event.

“We are going to have people there from the Crisis Center (of Anderson and Cherokee Counties), from Child Protective Services, from Adult Protective Services, the local hospitals and many of the county departments,” Reese said. “We all use this month to make a real concentrated statement to make people aware of child abuse and to honor the foster parents who take many of these abused kids in.”

Gillian Sheridan, news anchor for Channel 7, was scheduled to speak at the event, but had to back out due to a personal emergency.

“She suggested John and Jana Morris, and because they have been foster parents she thought they would be great people to address the problem and to give their own personal testimony of what they went through to care for these kids,” Reese said.

Other speakers include County Judge Chris Davis, Court at Law Judge Craig Fletcher and CPS Area Director Denise McDonald.

The festivities will include a ribbon-cutting, a balloon release and the choir from the Brook Hill School will be on-hand to perform a few songs. Refreshments are being provided by East Texas Medical Center, Trinity Mother Frances and Legend Oaks Nursing Home.

Denice Grugle, of the Heart Gallery, will also be on-hand with portraits of actual children in need of foster or adoptive homes. Heart Gallery focuses mainly on older, more difficult-to-place children. Grugle will also be setting up a display inside the First United Methodist Church of Jacksonville later in the month.

The theme for this year’s rally is “Blowing Child Abuse Away,” and bubbles will be handed out at the end of the event as a symbolic way for patrons to say they will do their part to combat child abuse and negligence.

All elementary schools in the county are participating in an anti-child abuse poster contest, and the winning child will earn a $50 gift certificate for his or her school.

Assistant County Attorney Kelley Peacock, who is helping organize the rally, said her office handles an alarming number of child abuse cases each year.

“We obviously see a lot of these cases, and during harder economic times abuse unfortunately increases,” she said. “The common sense reason is that financial problems and potential unemployment puts parents under more stress and causes people to drink more, and the children often pay for it. This is a very real problem that happens locally.”

An estimated 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in America, but experts estimate the actual number of incidents of abuse and neglect could actually by three times greater than that due to victims who don’t report the abuse for fear of reprisal.

According to DFPS, more than 83,000 allegations of abuse or neglect were confirmed in Texas last year, and more than 14,000 children had to be removed from their homes due to dangerous circumstances during that time.

“Every responsible person will agree that one abused child is too many. Yet our state’s child protection caseloads are evidence of the shameful fact that child abuse is a widespread issue in Texas,” Gov. Rick Perry said in a press release.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,500 children die every year, or four each day, in the U.S. from child abuse or neglect. Those who don’t die are more likely to be diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, more likely to develop addictions to alcohol and drugs, more likely to become a teen parent and more likely to victimize their own children than a person who wasn’t abused as a child.

Last year about 150 people attended the Cherokee County event, and organizers are hopeful the turnout will be equally strong this time. The event is expected to be finished by 1 p.m., allowing people to stop by during their lunch hour.

“This is going to be an up-beat event even though it has a somber message, but it is very important that we speak up on behalf of children who many times — especially the little ones — don’t have a voice of their own,” Reese said. “This isn’t just something we need to think about for one day in April; this is a problem that needs attention brought to it all year long.”