Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Keith Easton, president of the Trumbull County Children Services Board, gives remarks during the agency’s 21st annual Pinwheels for Prevention ceremony Wednesday afternoon at the Warren G. Harding High School Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

WARREN — Trumbull County Children Services continued its recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month Wednesday with its annual Pinwheels for Prevention ceremony.

It followed the planting of 1,373 pinwheels outside the old Warren G. Harding High School facade to represent each report of child maltreatment in the county last year and the adults who spoke up by reporting suspected abuse or neglect. The pinwheels were planted over the weekend by members of the Touch of Class horse club.

Wednesday’s event at the school’s Student Recreation and Wellness Center drew local leaders who urged residents to adopt the campaign’s message:

“If you see something, say something.”

Trumbull County Children Services Executive Director Marilyn Pape said the number of child abuse or neglect reports rose by 71 from the previous year.

While the pinwheels create a visually striking display, she said they symbolize a harsher reality, noting each report can involve multiple children, such as sibling groups, meaning the actual number of affected children is likely higher.

“It could be that this campaign is helping and that people are seeing something and saying something,” Pape said. “But then the other side of that is there’s more cases” driven by factors like substance abuse, mental health issues, poverty and hardship.

Warren Municipal Court Judge Patricia Knepp, the keynote speaker, said abuse often surfaces indirectly during responses to unrelated complaints or emergencies. She stressed that “something” can be any sign a child is in need or suffering, from physical injuries to behavioral changes like withdrawal, aggression or depression, or signs of neglect such as repeated clothing or lack of supervision.

Knepp pointed to the “bystander effect,” where people assume someone else will act, and encouraged residents to educate themselves on warning signs of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and neglect.

“Anything that leads you to believe that there is a child in need … you have to be their voice,” she said.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin; Keith Easton, president of the Children Services Board; Dante Capers, associate superintendent of student services, wellness and success for the Warren City School District; and Pape addressed the gathering.

Franklin and Trumbull County Commissioners Denny Malloy, Tony Bernard and Rick Hernandez gave remarks and presented a proclamation to Easton.

Pape said that reports can be made anonymously by anyone, not just mandated reporters and encouraged community involvement through volunteering, mentoring, fostering or advocating for policies that support families.

She praised her agency’s staff, who “confront the worst of the worst” daily and support resources like an employee assistance program for their mental health.

Easton called on attendees to move beyond awareness to action, offering his phone number and urging people to volunteer as mentors (requiring as little as four hours a month) or foster parents, including respite care. He described foster and adoptive parents not as “superheroes,” but as ordinary people stepping up selflessly.

Capers connected the work of schools and children services.

He said chronic absenteeism — missing as little as 10% of the school year — can widen learning gaps and perpetuate cycles of neglect. He spoke from personal experience about the power of safe, loving homes that provide medical care, nutrition, responsibility and consistent attendance, and how education can help break intergenerational patterns of maltreatment.

TCCS has run the Pinwheels for Prevention campaign for 21 years. Throughout April, staff will wear blue to symbolize support for safe homes for every child.

Pape described the event as bittersweet celebratory in its community focus but sobering in what the spinning pinwheels represent.

“Without the community, we can’t do our job,” she said of agency staff and residents. “It’s really a puzzle that we all have a piece in.”