There are 1,385 glimmering pinwheels spinning on the lawn of Dalton City Hall. But the colorful display represents something grim. Each pinwheel represents a reported case of child abuse in Whitfield County.
Mary Smith, child abuse prevention program manager with the Family Support Council, acknowledged that number is disheartening.
“We’ve had as many as over 1,700 one year, so it is down, it’s down from last year,” she said. “But I believe it has been over 1,000 every year since we started. We need to change that. We can change that. Everyone here has the ability to make an impact.”
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Each year community members, government officials, social workers, educators, law enforcement officers and others attend a Pinwheels for Prevention ceremony. The City Council chamber was packed for this year’s ceremony.
Holly Rice, director of the Family Support Council, said she hopes the ceremony “increases awareness and keeps children safer.”
Smith noted the pinwheels represent reports, not convictions, and some of those reports will not be substantiated. But she also said only about a third of abuse cases are reported.
The pinwheels represent reports of all types of child abuse, not just sexual abuse.
This year’s ceremony focused on foster parents. When a child has to be removed from a home because of reported abuse or neglect, foster parents step up and try to provide a stable and supportive home.
“We have some children who are with us for a few months or several weeks, and we have some who are with us for a year or two,” said foster parent Patricia Morgan.
Morgan said it’s rewarding.
“If you’ve ever had the feeling that you can’t change the world, you can help a child,” she said. “If you can help just one or two children, you are changing generations.”
Smith said it takes the whole community to help spot and prevent child abuse.
Smith said she believes schools are probably the largest single place where abuse reports originate in Whitfield County.
Smith, who has been working with children and families for more than 50 years, said alcohol is often a factor in child abuse and sexual abuse.
While many parents or guardians worry about strangers abducting or harming their children, Smith said 90% of children who are sexually abused are abused by someone they know.
“Sometimes, it’s a family member. It’s often a stepfather or mother’s boyfriend,” she said. “Child molestation is less common in households where both biological parents are present. But it can happen there. We had one recently where both parents were involved.”
Smith noted abuse survivors are all different, and the types of abuse can be different, too. But she said most abuse survivors go on to live happy, productive lives, especially if they get the help they need early enough.
“It’s still back there,” she said. “It’s still a trauma they have dealt with. But it doesn’t necessarily hold them back.”