WHAT:          
OCFS staff will plant blue pinwheels to raise awareness of child abuse prevention efforts marking April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. Pinwheels are the universal symbol for child abuse prevention because they connote playfulness, whimsy, joy and a childhood free from fear and trauma. Prevent Child Abuse America introduced the pinwheel in 2007 as the new national symbol for child abuse prevention.

WHEN:          
Friday, April 5, 2024, at 11 a.m. 

WHERE:       
NYS OCFS Campus
52 Washington St./Rte. 151 (across the street from Rensselaer City Hall)
South Building
Rensselaer, NY  12144

WHO:            
OCFS Deputy Commissioner of the Division of Child Welfare and Community Services Gail Geohagen-Pratt; Tamaé Memole, director of the Resilience Leadership and Learning Institute at Prevent Child Abuse New York; Youth Research Inc. Executive Director Cassie Pustilnik; OCFS staff and other special guests

DETAILS:    
This year’s theme for Child Abuse Prevention Month is “Supporting Child and Family Well-Being” to highlight key prevention tools that can help prevent child abuse and neglect by providing the services and resources families need before any involvement with the child welfare system. We have initiatives happening all month long to raise awareness, including state assets being lit in blue on the evening of April 5.

RSVP:         
Media interested in attending should RSVP to press@ocfs.ny.gov by 10 a.m. on April 5. When you arrive, please enter through the main lobby of the South Building and check in with security.

About the New York State Office of Children and Family Services:

The Office of Children and Family Services serves New York's public by promoting the safety, permanency and well-being of children, families and communities. The agency provides a system of family support, juvenile justice, youth development, child care and child welfare services and is responsible for programs and services involving foster care, adoption and adoption assistance, child protective services, preventive services for children and families, and protective programs for vulnerable adults.