It Takes a Community

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time set aside to recognize the importance of protecting children and strengthening families. It is also a time to remember something simple, but powerful: no one can do this work alone.

During Child Abuse Prevention Month, we’re reminded that it takes a community to create safe, supported homes for children. Blue pinwheels, the national symbol of child abuse prevention, represent the joyful, healthy childhoods we want for every child and serve as a visible reminder that prevention is possible.

At Project 1.27, we have the privilege of working alongside counties, agencies, churches, and community partners who share this same calling. Each plays a unique role. Caseworkers advocate and make critical decisions for safety. Agencies provide resources, training, and oversight. Churches and volunteers step in with relational support, meeting practical needs and offering encouragement when it is needed most.

Together, this network of support surrounds children and families with care that no single person or organization could provide on their own.

For children who have experienced abuse or neglect, healing does not happen in isolation. It happens in relationships. It happens when families are supported, when caregivers are encouraged, and when communities choose to stay engaged.

Foster and kinship families often carry the daily responsibility of caring for children who have experienced hard things. They are doing important, meaningful work. But they were never meant to do it alone.

That is where community comes in.

When a family delivers a meal through the Neighbor Program, when a church provides trauma-informed training for their staff, or when volunteers step into New Ground to become mentors for young adults who’ve aged out of foster care, each act becomes part of something bigger. These are the steady, behind-the-scenes efforts that help create stability, build trust, and remind families that they are not alone.

Child abuse prevention is not the responsibility of one system or one group. It is a shared commitment. It is built through partnerships, through relationships, and through people who are willing to show up in both big and small ways.
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Thank you for being a part of that community.

Jenny Watson, Director of Communications and Development