This weekend, Amarillo residents gathered to rally against child abuse and neglect. As The Amarillo Globe-News reports, last year Child Protective Services completed almost 7,000 cases in the Texas Panhandle.
Four out of five of those cases centered on children who were victims of neglectful supervision. To draw attention to the issue, dozens of child welfare advocates gathered at the Amarillo Activity Youth Center Saturday for the Amarillo Child Abuse Prevention Rally.
This is the fifth year that the rally has been held. Matt Hite, Amarillo Activity Youth Center director, noted that one in 10 kids have been abused by the time they reach age 18. These crimes can include physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect or emotional abuse, which includes bullying. The youth center’s Youth Leadership Council helped to organize the rally. Several teenagers attended the rally, many of them former victims of abuse, insisting they want to be part of the solution.