During April, National Child Abuse Awareness Month, the Putnam County Child Advocacy Center (CAC) is joining National Children’s Alliance and thousands of its members and supporters across the country to bring attention to the issue of child abuse prevention and intervention. The Putnam CAC will once again launch their Blue Ribbon Campaign and encourage county residents to wear blue on Friday, April 4, in recognition and support of victims of child abuse.

The CAC will present the workshop “Protecting Your Child: Lessons Learned from Sex Offenders” from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the TOPS Center, 110 Old Route 6 on the Donald B. Smith Campus in Carmel.

“Everyone has the ability and responsibility to prevent child abuse,” said Marla Behler, program coordinator of the CAC. “We need to become more educated about how to recognize the signs, how to respond and how to intervene.”

“Protecting our children should be everyone’s top priority. The statistics we see on child abuse are heart-wrenching and unacceptable. This administration is trying to help and so we’ve launched our Putnam County Cares mobile app for Android phones where police emergency contact information is available,” said County Executive MaryEllen Odell.

In addition, the CAC will hold their 9th Annual Children’s Expo & Public Safety Fair on Saturday, April 26. The event is free and open to the public.

Other Child Abuse Prevention exhibit displays will be at the following locations:

April 1–11: Putnam Hospital

April 14–18: Mahopac Library

April 21–25: Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library

April 28–May 2: Health Department and DMV

For more information on local events related to National Child Abuse Prevention Month, visit putnamcountyny.com or nationalchildrensalliance.org. Also visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/putnamcac.

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