One hundred seventy pinwheels whirled in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse, planted there to raise awareness of child abuse prevention — and of the resources available to struggling families.
Tuesday morning staff from the DeKalb District Attorney’s office and Prevent Child Abuse Georgia began setting out shiny blue-and-silver pinwheels in the raised planter on the courthouse plaza. Pinwheels are the national symbol of child abuse prevention. Each pinwheel represented 1,000 children living in DeKalb County.
This is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week as well as Child Abuse Prevention Month, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston told a crowd of about 40 gathered on the courthouse steps. She invited the onlookers to plant the rest of the pinwheels. They were all in place a few minutes later.
Boston said she hopes the pinwheel display and associated information campaign will raise awareness of the support available for crime victims and the resources available for struggling families.
“We want everyone to know that supported families are stronger families,” she said.
This year’s theme for crime victims’ rights week is “How would you help?” Boston said. Signs placed by the pinwheels and around the county include a QR code that links to www.FindHelpGa.org, a searchable list of resources for struggling families that provide food, medical care, job training and more, she said.
Jennifer Stein, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, said she was glad to see such assistance advertised on billboards and at bus stops.
“We all need to step up to be the support community that parents and caregivers need, without shame and without blame,” she said.
Boston said no single agency provides all the forms of assistance that child victims and families need, so the DA’s office works to connect them with multiple sources.
Boston said victim advocacy is a primary focus of her office, which has 35 victim advocates trained on trauma informed support, and an 18-person unit handling cases of sexual exploitation and crimes against children.
Credit: Steve Schaefer /
Credit: Steve Schaefer /
Nearly 20 million people were victims of crime in the United States during 2022, according to the Cobb County district attorney’s office. More than 6.6 million of those were violent crimes such as rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault or simple assault, but only about 42% of those were reported to police, the Cobb DA’s office said, citing federal statistics.
Marsy’s Law for Georgia and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia are asking businesses statewide to take a pledge to be community advocates, keeping crime victims informed of resources available to them. The focus is on businesses that are likely to encounter crime victims, such as medical practices or pharmacies, insurance agencies, transit facilities, hotels, banks, property managers and child care providers.
Law enforcement and judicial agencies and victims’ rights organizations have been sponsoring many events related to National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
In Fulton County, those still to come are:
- Firearm Safety Thursday, with training on use and storage of firearms and ammunition. It will be 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Juvenile Justice Center, 395 Pryor St. SW, Atlanta, in the first-floor conference room.
- Self Care Fair Saturday, offering free dental screening for children, food, massages, haircuts, yoga and other activities. It will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the C.T. Martin Recreation Center, 3201 MLK Jr. Drive SW, Atlanta.
On the first Tuesday of each month, the Cobb DA’s office holds a support group meeting for parents of murdered children. It’s at 6:30 p.m. at the Cobb Family Advocacy Center, 277 Fairground St. SE, Marietta.
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