The Cass Elias McCarter Guardian ad Litem Office in Clarendon County will hold the 4th annual candlelight vigil in honor of National Child Abuse Prevention Month at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Clarendon County Gazebo, 102 S. Mill St. in Manning.
"All members of the community are invited to attend and are asked to wear blue to show support for the prevention of child abuse and neglect," said Director Celestine Cooper in a release.
Phoenix Charter High School Principal Elease H. Fulton was the guest speaker at last year's event. She said she was astounded that "we have reached such a proportion of child abuse that it actually warrants a month for its recognition, to bring awareness to the fact that children are being abused."
"Child abuse kills and transcends all backgrounds," she said. "I truly believe that children are our future, and that we really need to protect those children, because if we don't protect them, who is going to be our future?"
Fulton said a child who has been abused is a child who is stressed, and that is something that may not always be noticeable. She called it a silent killer.
"We may see a child acting out, but we don't know why he or she is behaving the way they do," she said. "That pressure builds up, and it has to be released, one way or another."
"Hurt people hurt other people," Fulton surmised. "They're looking for a release, and they're going to put out a defense mechanism. And if they can't talk out, they're going to act out."
Cooper said that more than 3,800 new cases of child abuse and neglect were filed in South Carolina family courts in 2016.
"Currently, cases involving more than 8,000 children are pending statewide," she said. "Trained and dedicated volunteers are needed to be independent voices for the children."
Cooper said the local Guardian ad Litem Office "trains and supervises volunteers to serve as court-appointed Guardian ad Litems in counties throughout the state."
In South Carolina, children are not present when decisions about their futures are made in the courtroom. Cooper said volunteers, thus, bridge the gap and tell the judge what the children want. She said, this way, the children don't have to experience trauma in a courtroom setting.
"These child advocates provide independent reports to the court regarding the best interest of the child," she said. "Volunteers must be at least 21 years old, able to pass a background check and complete a free training program before being assigned to a case."
She said free training beings Monday. For more information, call (803) 435-8012 or visit www.scgal.org.
