Black River Technical College (BRTC) hosted the 9th Annual Child Abuse Awareness Event on the Pocahontas campus on Thursday, April 24. Roughly 60 people attended the event, along with members of the BRTC Student Government Association and the BRTC Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) chapter.
Rachel Koons, Social Science Instructor, started the event by welcoming all attendees and advocacy groups. The Child Abuse Prevention Month Proclamation was read PTK Vice President Lane Pace, and Gateway Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) 3rd Judicial Executive Director Beau McBride read the 2024 Arkansas statistics for child abuse cases. McBride read there were more than 29,000 cases of child maltreatment reported in Arkansas and around 6,500 of them were found to be true. While the number of true cases is still large, it is 4,500 cases less than 2023.
The survivor speaker for this year’s event was BRTC student and PTK Vice President of Community Service Misty Martin. Martin is the first current BRTC student to be a survivor speaker. She told the group about the abuse she endured growing up and how she had been failed by the adults who were supposed to protect her. Although she had endured dark times, she said she is blessed to be married and have two wonderful children. Martin said speaking out and getting the appropriate help is what has helped her begin a journey to healing.
“I am helping the little girl inside of me; she deserves that,” Martin said.
After Martin’s story, Ashley Stover, Gateway CASA Board Member, explained the importance of the blue pinwheel. The blue pinwheel is a national symbol for child abuse prevention. They represent healthy and safe childhoods for all children and hope for a better future. To show further show their support, all guests planted blue pinwheels outside of the Administration building to create a pinwheel garden. The garden stands as a beacon of hope for children and as a memorial for the children who lost their lives at the hands of maltreatment.
The Child Abuse Awareness event was created in 2016 by a social work class instructed by Rachel Koons and has only missed one year due to COVID-19. Each year there are multiple child advocacy groups that attend and give out information about the services they provide. This year there were 10 advocacy groups in attendance to support the event.
Pictures from the event can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackrivertech/albums/72177720325677404.
For more information about the Child Abuse Awareness Event contact Rachel Koons at rachel.koons@blackreivertech.edu, or call at (870) 248-4172.