Prevent Child Abuse Wyoming is using a community garden metaphor throughout Child Abuse Prevention Month to drive home the message that ‘every day, we help families and children thrive.’

Courtesy images

Sara Serelson

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April was first declared Child Abuse Prevention Month by presidential proclamation in 1983. Since then, April has been a time to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child maltreatment. As Wyoming Children’s Trust Fund’s mission is “Coordinating prevention efforts in Wyoming to prevent incidents of child neglect, emotional, physical and sexual abuse,” we are asking every person in Wyoming to partner with us for Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month in April 2022.

Throughout CAP Month, Prevent Child Abuse Wyoming, affiliates, and stakeholders are using a community garden metaphor to reinforce the message that “every day, we help families and children thrive.”

Children and families are our greatest natural resource. We all have a stake in preparing children to grow up to be healthy and thriving members of our community. The best time to plant seeds of support for all children is now. Every season presents a new opportunity to promote a young person’s physical, emotional, and social development.

Each family is unique, but all parents and caregivers need support sometimes. We can all help by ensuring children have positive experiences, and families have the resources they need when they need them. We hope you will join us throughout April to spread awareness of the importance of child abuse prevention in Wyoming. 

In Wyoming, we invite you to wear blue every Thursday in April.

We work hard in Wyoming and we are proud of our western ways! Every Friday in April, we invite you to wear your boots (work boots, cowboy boots, rain or snow boots) and plant seeds of support for all Wyoming children to yield healthier adults with abundant futures. We would love to see your boots! 

For all of our awareness events, we encourage you to post photos on social media using #GrowingBetterTogether and #WYKidsMatter.

For more information, visit www.pcawy.org.

(Sara Serelson is the executive director of Wyoming’s Children Trust Fund. The trust fund is the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention agency in Wyoming and the Prevent Child Abuse Wyoming chapter.)