MARION – In observance of April’s designation as Child Abuse Prevention Month, employees from Marion County Children Services have planted 863 pinwheels in the front yard of the agency along Marion-Waldo Road. Each pinwheel represents a safety assessment conducted by agency staff in 2015 related to a report of child abuse.

While the pinwheels may look pretty spinning in the breeze on a spring afternoon, the reason they’ve been placed there is a stark reminder that child abuse in all of its forms is still a pressing issue. According to The Ohio Family Violence Prevention Project, there are 81,608 cases of child abuse investigated each year across the state.

Placement Services Supervisor Francis Hernandez said while Marion County Children Services workers are devoted to the agency’s mission “to lead the community in the protection of children by working with families to promote, develop, and maintain safe and permanent homes,” the sheer number of children and families they deal with on annual basis is nearly overwhelming at times.

“In 2015, we served 1,939 children and their families in Marion County,” Hernandez, who has worked for Children Services for 20 years, said. “What that breaks down to is that we served one out of every seven kids in the county. Last year was very busy for us.”

Hernandez said the 863 safety assessments performed in 2015 is the highest total in her two decades with Children Services. She said assessments were broken down into the following categories: neglect, 464; physical abuse, 213; sexual abuse, 149; emotional maltreatment, 23; and dependency/family in need, 14.

In 2014, the agency served 1,534 children and families, equating to one out of nine children in Marion County. Staff members performed 640 safety assessments, revealing the following results by category: neglect, 359; physical abuse, 160; sexual abuse, 92; emotional maltreatment, 10; and dependency/family in need, 19.

“The largest majority of our kids came into custody last year due to substance abuse,” she said. “In Marion County, as we all know, we have a large number of opiate addictions, so our numbers are supporting what we’re seeing happen in the community.” Hernandez said most of the neglect cases are related to substance abuse by adults in the home.

According to Hernandez, in 2015, 101 children had to be taken into agency custody and placed in foster care. Seventy-four were placed with family or friends. In 2014, 88 children were placed in foster care, while 99 were placed with family or friends.

​Hernandez said while caseworkers have reported that children brought into the local foster care system are facing a wide range of issues, the children are also being provided care that they may not have experienced previously.

“We see a lot of delays in their education and they struggle with just the normalcy of family settings,” she said. “But I see a lot of these kids flourishing in foster care because of the stability within the foster homes and the consistency with them having a routine.”

Executive Director Jacqueline Ringer said Children Services’ goal is to work with families for the benefit of the children.

“Families today are dealing with increased needs and a complexity of issues,” she said. “We are focusing our efforts on working jointly with families to identify concerns and find solutions to ensure child safety. By allowing the family to lead the process, their willingness to participate in services aimed at strengthening and supporting their family increases. While we continue to learn more about ways to engage families, we remain steadfast in our belief that supporting families by ensuring they have proper knowledge, skills and resources is the best form of prevention of future child maltreatment. We have an understanding of where we are and where we want to be and child safety remains our primary concern.”

Hernandez said Children Services is inviting the community to join in the observance of Child Abuse Prevention Month by participating in two events. She said local residents are encouraged to take part in Wear Blue on April 13. Participants are asked to take photos of themselves with family members, co-workers or friends and post them to Facebook with the hashtags #WearBlue2016 and #marionkids. Photos also can be emailed to moreinfo@marionkids.com.

The Pinwheels for Prevention initiative kicked off last week and will wrap up with Pinwheel Play Day on April 30. The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the agency’s campus. It is free and open to the public.

Children Services offers child abuse and neglect training for the public. The training is provided at no cost for Marion County residents. For details about the child abuse and neglect training sessions, contact Erin Turner at 740-386-0428 or Erin.Turner@jfs.ohio.gov.

For information about Marion County Children Services, visit the website www.marionkids.com. The agency maintains a Facebook page and a Twitter account, @Marion_Kids.

eacarter@gannett.com

740-375-5154

Twitter: @AndrewCarterMS