April proclaimed Child Abuse Prevention Month

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County Commissioners have proclaimed April as Child Abuse Prevention Month, emphasizing the importance of protecting children and supporting efforts to prevent abuse in the community. The proclamation was adopted at this month’s meeting, alongside an updated Equal Employment Opportunity Policy and the readoption of several fiscal policies.

“This is the children in our community growing up and that will be the future of our community, so we want to recognize that child abuse happens in our community and support the children in this community and those that work to help prevent child abuse,” said Theressa Smith, interim Social Services director, during the meeting.

The proclamation highlights the county’s commitment to child well-being, stating:

“WHEREAS, children’s healthy development and well-being is a priority for Richmond County and children need safe, stable, and nurturing families, schools, and communities; and

WHEREAS, childhood trauma, including abuse and neglect, is a serious problem affecting communities across our state and has long-term negative effects on children, families, and future generations; and

WHEREAS, children who live in families with access to economic, health, educational, and social supports are less likely to experience abuse and neglect; and

WHEREAS, nurturing positive, healthy childhoods and preventing child maltreatment requires action by all Richmond County citizens and is achieved through partnerships built among families, prevention advocates, child protection professionals, schools, health care providers, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and local, state, and national governments; and

WHEREAS, in order to solve the public health issue of abuse and neglect, we must work together to ensure all children and families are healthy and thriving and invest more in effective child abuse prevention initiatives and family-strengthening policies and supports;

NOW THEREFORE, We, the Richmond County Department of Social Services, do hereby proclaim April 2025 as ‘CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH’ in Richmond County, North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.”

In addition to the proclamation, Smith announced that the Child Advocacy Center has received a Community Development Block Grant, which required the county to update its Equal Employment Opportunity Policy and Plan.

“The last one that was signed by the commissioners was four years ago, so we’re just asking that you accept the proposal for an updated equal opportunity policy and plan,” Smith stated. The commissioners approved the updated policy and plan.

Commissioners also readopted several fiscal policies presented by CFO Cary Garner, particularly those related to grant funding and financial oversight.

“What we have here basically is, as Theressa had mentioned, as a requirement for the American Rescue Plan, we had to adopt some uniform policies back in 2020 and 2021. Some of those should have been reviewed every two years. When we adopted those, to comply with uniform grant guidance, all of the ones that we adopted really reference ARP,” said Garner.

Garner further explained the broader reasoning behind the readoption of these policies.

“Under the Obama Administration, there was something called the Uniform Guidance that was established and these policies were part of that so that every state would kind of be on an equal playing ground, so to speak. They were kind of on the bookshelf until the American Rescue Plan funding came around, and everybody said, ‘Well, we already have this in place, just adopt those policies.’ So everything that we’ve done was respective to the American Rescue Plan.”

“These are just generic so that we can say we’ve got a conflict of interest policy that’s been adopted as recently as in the last few years. We’ve got a nondiscrimination policy, we’ve got a government policy and so forth,” Garner added.