Ceremony held to promote child abuse prevention

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month and hundreds of people showed up to a ceremony at Freedom Elementary School Thursday evening to remember and honor the victims.

The Christian County Council on Child Abuse and Neglect hosts the ceremony annually and Sinking Fork Elementary Family Resource Center Coordinator Mary Lovelace says Kentucky ranks 34th in the nation for child wellbeing, so things need to improve.

She also urged people to be aware of what’s happening around them, because by doing so they could see the warning signs of abuse and then report it accordingly. She says the same is true of human trafficking, which is a serious threat and problem for children across the world.

The Advocate of the Year Award was presented to the Christian County Public Schools nurses. District Nursing Coordinator Megan Kidd says it is their honor to aid the children of Christian County and they will continue to do what they can to give all children care and hope.

Choirs from Indian Hills, Pembroke and Freedom Elementary Schools all performed at the ceremony. Many children entered a poetry and poster contest to bring awareness to child abuse and the winners of the contests were announced.