City of Bowling Green and Warren County proclaim April as Child Abuse Prevention Month
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Bowling Green and Warren County came together Wednesday afternoon to recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.
“We, the Bowling Green Board of City Commissioners and Warren County Fiscal Court, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month and hereby proclaim on all residents of Bowling Green and Warren County to observe this month by continuing to build awareness and a network of services in this community that can better address the needs of children and the families in distress,” commissioner Dana Beasley Brown said during the reading of the proclamation.
The Family Enrichment Center was on hand to help spread awareness about the signs of child abuse, which can vary depending on age.
“In non-mobile children, there shouldn’t be significant bruising. They just don’t travel and never move enough to have significant bruising. So if we saw bruising on a child that was not yet mobile, that’s a huge red flag. For older children that are mobile, but not yet verbal… look for behavioral changes. It’s not just one behavior that would be your indicator. It’s the behavior change from how the kid had always been,” board chair Kim Wilson says.
Mayor Todd Alcott says the partnership between the city and the county, along with all the other nonprofits in our area, is vital.
“They’re really the bread and butter of our community… and you think about Family Enrichment, you think about child care, think about what could happen to children… and unfortunately, unfortunate things do happen. Neglect happens, abuse happens, but our providers, that first sense of recognizing that something’s going on in this child’s life and reporting it,” he says.
Wilson says this is a great thing to have as well, considering everyone can help those that are facing this issue.
“It affects our future generation and the well-being of our community. So it’s a problem for all of us, and it takes all of us to solve that problem,” she says.
The mayor adds it’s great to see the community come out and support as well.
“People don’t care where the park came from, they care that they have a community asset… and when they see their community leaders come together, and the support’s united, it’s real, because we’re reflecting what the community’s actually accomplishing… and that is, in this case, trying to keep a child from being abused or neglected,” Alcott says.
