Pinwheels planted in fight against child abuse

Every snowflake falling April 5 during the pinwheel planting ceremony for National Child Abuse Prevention Month at the Nevada Legislature, Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said, represented a child impacted by abuse or exploitation.

And the snow kept coming.

“Our police agencies, our resource agencies, they see such tragic, horrific injuries on children constantly,” Furlong said. “But I want to talk to you about the child that is unseen. The child that is not at his desk in school. The child sitting outside of an event, designed to enjoy life and play, standing outside of a fence because he doesn’t feel welcome, he doesn’t have dreams. … But we can stop child abuse and we can stop neglect.”

Advocates to End Domestic Violence and Prevent Child Abuse Nevada are promoting positive messages for children impacted by trauma or abuse. On Friday, volunteers in Carson City gathered to plant blue pinwheels at various locations after hearing performances from youth of the Wild Horse Children’s Theater and hearing from speakers and community advocates.

“Every child deserves to grow up in a safe and nurturing environment free from harm and fear,” Assemblyman PK O’Neill said. “Yet, countless children around the world, our country, our state, our local communities suffer from various forms of abuse whether it be physical, emotional or sexual.”

O’Neill said it takes a concerted effort from all sectors of society to report the signs of abuse and to intervene. He covered changes to bills made during last year’s legislative session to mitigate risk factors and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions for encounters with students.

O’Neill referred to revisions made to Senate Bill 38, intended to keep certain people in positions of authority or volunteers guilty of a category C felony from communicating with students and prohibits them from engaging in conduct intended to cause or encourage students to engage in sexual conduct, distribute sexual images or commit other unlawful acts.

SB36 revised provisions for a psychosexual evaluation required for individuals convicted of solicitation of a child for prostitution. He also referred to Assembly Bill 183, which was revised to add entities in the juvenile justice system and child welfare system to screen certain children for commercial sexual exploitation and determine whether they’re at high risk for abuse.

O’Neill called it embarrassing to create such laws that are “nothing more than common sense and the right thing to do.”

Shelby Riley, rural foster care recruiter for the Department of Child and Family Services, talked about the difficulty of seeing the number of pinwheels grow on lawns each year from the increase in cases. Most families think of pursuing the necessary mental health or behavioral resources for a child after an incident as a stigma, she said.

“We wish these were not the stories our families have gone through,” Riley said. “We wish they didn’t miss those chances or fall through the cracks where their community could have stepped through and prevented a child from experiencing abuse or neglect.”

According to the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services, in fiscal year 2023, there were approximately 40,000 reports of possible abuse or neglect, resulting in 14,549 investigations. From these, there were 3,758 substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect, and 2,677 children were removed from their homes.

Carson High School sophomore Eleanor Woodrum, who planted some of the pinwheels and sang in the group representing the Wild Horse Children’s Theater, said it was important to support National Child Abuse Prevention Month and show community engagement.

“It’s important to get involved and make sure everybody gets to be safe and happy, and it’s not just kids,” she said. “It’s everybody, but especially kids because they grow up and then they continue being at a disadvantage.”