Tribal members and tribal employees participated in a number of events across the reservations to mark Child Abuse Awareness Month in April. The Advocacy & Guardianship Department hosted a series of community events to mark the occasion.

Participants were encouraged to wear blue, a favorite sports team jersey or shirt, their favorite superhero apparel, and to “put a cap” on child abuse by wearing a favorite hat, among other themes.

A week’s worth of events usually culminates with the “Child Abuse Awareness Community Walk” and ice cream social in Hollywood, Big Cypress, Brighton and Immokalee. However those events, the first since the pandemic, and what would have been the first-ever walk in Lakeland, were cancelled due to inclement weather.

For “be a hero” day, the Advocacy program visited the tribe’s preschools while wearing superhero outfits. They read books and sang songs with the children. In addition, the Advocacy program visited the children housed in the youth home on the Big Cypress Reservation.