Child Abuse Awareness Month
Each April, blue ribbons flutter from trees, bushes and structures in Oklahoma to observe Child Abuse Prevention Month. At Tinker, Family Advocacy enlisted the help of parents, children, teens, center staff plus volunteers from 11 Air Force and Navy squadrons to tie blue ribbons at the three Child Development Centers, the Youth Center, the Family Child Care Office and the Balfour Beatty Community Center. Joyce Atlee, one of the Family Advocacy Outreach managers, said, “Statewide, each location chooses what the ribbons stand for. Some decide to represent the numbers of child abuse reports in their community, number of children served by their agency, etc. Here, our ribbons symbolize that Tinker AFB is a community which cares about children. One way that caring is exemplified is by providing safe, stable, nurturing environments, whether they are the happy and enriching places where children are cared for while parents work, or our many on-base family homes.” From left, Capt. Markia Anderson, with Family Advocacy, Staff Sgt. Diana, with the 752nd Operations Support Squadron, and Staff Sgt. Johnathan Midkiff, with the 72nd Security Forces Squadron, volunteered to tie the blue ribbons on trees in front of the CDC South April 3. (Air Force photo by Kelly White)