Planting Pinwheels: Army, Marines advocate for child abuse prevention

For some, spring is a time reserved for planting seeds that blossom into colorful flowers. Instead of flowers, a group of parents and their toddlers and infants, and representatives from the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Army Community Service and Marine Corps Community Services Henderson Hall Family Advocacy programs, gathered in front of Memorial Chapel to plant pinwheels in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The blue and silver pinwheel is a symbol of Child Abuse Prevention Month. Katie Groseclose, prevention and education specialist at the MCCS Henderson Hall Family Advocacy Program, said the pinwheel is a symbol that sends a positive message encouraging parents to engage and protect their children.

Susan McGlothin, Family Advocacy Program community educator for ACS, said this positive symbol helps to build awareness and pique the interest of onlookers.

"They see these pinwheels and they can ask the question, 'what are these pinwheels for?'" said McGlothin. "It gave us an opportunity to explain the meaning behind the pinwheels and to inform them on the extent of child abuse. We want parents to learn the signs of abuse, symptoms of child abuse and we want them to help to stop it."

The group planted blue and silver pinwheels in a square-outlined space near a sign that reads, "Pinwheels for Prevention."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 702,000 children were abused in 2014. Of those abused, 27 percent were children under the age of three.

Groseclose said some caregivers consider the effects of abuse to be relegated only to bumps and bruises, but these aren't the only signs of child abuse. She said that neglect and emotional damage are also signs of abuse. According to the same CDC report, 1 in 4 children have experienced some form of child abuse and neglect.

"Emotional abuse is the hardest to identify and neglect because you can't see it and neglect is probably one we don't think of the most," said Groseclose.

Groseclose recommends that parents educate themselves on different kinds of abuses, so they can better discern if their child has been abused. She also wants to encourage some parents to step away from their cell phones and social media on occasion in order to spend more time with their children.

Contact Pentagram Staff Writer Delonte Harrod at dharrod@dcmilitary.com.