Montefiore’s Butler Center for Children and Families, along with 11 nursing students from the Borough of Manhattan Community College, recently held an informational event to raise awareness about the urgent need to stop child abuse before it starts.

Over 500 Pinwheels were distributed, along with pledge cards, encouraging people to take simple, ordinary actions every day that make a difference in the lives of children. Pinwheels are a symbol of a healthy, happy and safe childhood which all children deserve.

Parenting is hard. Programs and strategies like home visiting, parent education, mutual self-help support, mental health services for new mothers, sexual abuse prevention, expanding the availability of affordable child care programming and substance abuse treatment, all play a role in the prevention of child abuse and neglect.