Spring is here and as the flowers begin to bloom and grow so do the number of activities across the state recognizing April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. Hopefully we've spoken to each of you over the past few months and I trust that we've been helpful in planning your events.  Before we move into and through April, I want to make sure everyone has the latest information on Child Abuse Prevention Month activities. 

First, I have to talk about our collective efforts statewide. This year, as usual, there are more people to thank than we can list here.  One way we can recognize all of your efforts, however, is to refer you all to our website http://www.ounce.org/capevents.asp.  Once there, you will see our newly updated "Featured Events" page, along with the stops for the "Pinwheels for Prevention Truck Tour."  We look forward to this unique and creative way of building awareness of prevention-related activities, parent resources and perhaps most importantly, fostering awareness of the "everyday" activities we all do that help support parents and promote healthy child development.

Your assistance is very much needed in this endeavor. We want to make sure we capture everything you are doing all in one convenient, searchable catalog of events. We want to provide links to available resources for parents, most available at no cost. And last, but not least, we want to provide a birds-eye view of the good work Florida's communities are doing to support the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Your efforts help our leaders see the value in investing in prevention and family support.   

Finally, we can help support each other through the use of our social media links and pages.  If you haven't already done so, please like our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PreventChildAbuseFlorida/   

Over the next few weeks, and of course during April, we ask you to post your photos on our facebook page to enter our social media contest (see details below) and share with each other all the good things you are doing to promote #greatchildhoods, support parents and encourage community involvement. And, as always, if we can assist you, please don't hesitate to contact me or any of our team with your questions and suggestions. 

1. Post your photos of your pinwheel gardens/displays.  We'll have a panel of judges review the posts over the month of April and award a prize to help jump-start your campaign for next year! 

2. Don't forget, the national campaign this year is focusing on "Pinwheels in Iconic Locations" and we all know Florida is loaded with these so use #Pinwheel and #Greatchildhoods to tag your photos and posts on your accounts. This will show the folks in the rest of the country Florida's beautiful iconic locations as well as demonstrate our passion for doing the right thing for children and their families.

Visit our website!  There are conferences, lunches, Saturdays in the park, baseball games, events honoring our military, civilian and first responders, check it out and ENTER YOUR EVENT NOW!!