Barnwell community gathers for annual child abuse awareness walk

BARNWELL, S.C. (WJBF) – April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Friday night an organization in Barnwell held an event to raise awareness

“We have local vendors that work with parents and children such as First Steps, DSS, DHEC, the Axis 1 center of Barnwell…” said Cheryl Murdock, Axis 1 prevention specialist.

The Barnwell community is walking in blue, hoping to end child abuse. Axis 1of Barnwell hosted its annual Child Abuse Awareness Walk Friday, an event to help families know what signs to look out for.

“From physical to emotional, mental, sexual abuse…all of that falls under child abuse, and so I hope when people leave here today, they learn what to look for, and signs to see if something is going on and be able to know what to look for and report that,” said Ron Still, Mayor of Barnwell.

They also say with the different types of abuse, you never know what a child may be experiencing, so it’s important for parents to communicate with their children constantly.

“A part of what I do is…I go to the school and I teach comprehensive health and with comprehensive health the children always say that they can’t go to their parents and talk about certain things, they are uncomfortable about it or they assume that their parents think that they’re doing something, so they don’t have that comfortability to talk about whatever they may be facing” said Murdock

And if you see something, say something.

“I also teach school, so when you’re out in the community you see things that maybe make you question. Don’t hesitate to bring that to someone’s attention. I’d rather be safe than sorry especially when we’re talking about our children” said Still.

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