Portage students raise awareness for child abuse prevention

Apr. 10—The yard in front of Portage Area Elementary is now adorned with 450 blue and silver pinwheels — one for every student in the building.

These propellers represent the innocence of childhood and serve as a symbol for the importance of child abuse prevention, said Diana Grosik, Circle of Support Child Advocacy Center executive director.

She helped organize the creation of the pinwheel garden with the Portage Area Elementary student council, and a ceremony was held Friday to acknowledge the important issue.

"It takes everyone in the community to make sure our children are safe and healthy," Grosik said.

Circle of Support provides a number of services to victims such as forensic interviews, cases management and court preparation and accompaniment.

The pinwheel stencil was designed by Tara Williams' art students to be a picture of a mustang and the word "Portage" above the image.

"It's nice that we're doing this," elementary student council President Kendall Stancovich said.

The 12-year-old was pleased that her school was taking the time to raise awareness for such an important issue.

At the start of school Friday, each student in attendance planted a pinwheel in the garden.

"Anything we can do to raise awareness," Principal Pete Noel said.

He added that Portage is in the "kid business" and that, every day he comes to work, his No. 1 concern is safety for the students.

Raising awareness for child abuse is an issue he considers important, and he's glad student council adviser Lisa Civis introduced the idea last year.

Unfortunately, the initiative was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Civis said the students were excited to do their part to raise awareness.

According to the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services 2019 child abuse report — the latest available — there were more than 42,000 incidents reported that year in the state, and around 5,000 were determined to be substantiated.

In Cambria County, the local children and youth services investigated 480 reports of suspected abuse and received 2,601 reports of suspected child neglect, the report shows.

Gosik said Circle of Support received a total of 272 referrals for services in 2019: 241 sexual abuse allegations; 28 physical abuse allegations; 14 witnesses to violence or criminal activity; two drug endangerment cases; and four neglect cases.

She noted that youngsters have experienced a lot of stressors in the last year due to the novel coronavirus, and the support agency is starting to see a rise in reported cases of child abuse after a significant dip last year.

The Cambria County commissioners also attended the event.

President Commissioner Thomas Chernisky read a proclamation designating April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in the area.

For more information about the advocacy center's services, call 814-254-4567 or email info @cambriacac.org and to report suspected instances of child abuse call 1-800-932-0313.

Joshua Byers is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @Journo_Josh.