- April is National Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.
- Local Non-profit, Scotty's House, a Child Advocacy Center (CAC) will honor child abuse victims Tuesday in Franklin at the Robertson County Courthouse and in Bryan at the Brazos County Administration Building.
- Both ceremonies begin at Noon.
- In 2023, Brazos County had 480 reports of child abuse.
- In 2023 Robertson County had 86 reports of child abuse.
- Currently, the Robertson County area is in need of families to volunteer to be foster parents.
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480.
“It’s been frustrating,” Brenda Harris said.
It's a number representing more than pinwheels.
“At times it’s… it’s just heartbreaking, but these kids need us,” Harris said.
480 is the number of child abuse victims in Brazos County in 2023 alone.
In Robertson County, there were 86 reports of child abuse filed last year.
“The kids that you think about everything they have already gone through they need to have loving, stable homes to step into and feel safe,” Harris said.
That’s why Brenda Harris chose to be a foster parent four years ago.
“Having that opportunity to provide that stability for them is just huge,” Harris said.
She also sits on the board for the Robertson County Child Protective Services.
In her opinion, more help is needed — especially in rural communities like those in the Brazos Valley.
“In Robertson County, what we don’t have a lot of is foster families. It’s devasting when a child is removed from their homes. To the degree, we can keep them in our community, that’s what we need to do,” Harris said.
Ultimately, Harris told 15 ABC’s Chris Talley, 5$-6 we all have a role to play in finding local kids a loving home.
“Awareness is exponential. The more people we can bring into this, we hope those numbers can go down just by saying 'What can we do?' — We had to kind of take a break from this and that leaves one, maybe two families left in Robertson County to foster,” Harris said.
