ENID, OK - In 2013 the Garfield County Child Advocacy Council began the “Wooden Children Project” as a way of making the community aware of the number of children that are abused/neglected in Garfield County.
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The community response to this program has been overwhelming. The number of groups and individuals agreeing to “foster” the wooden children has increased as the number of actual abuse victims increases.
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In 2018, 332 children were confirmed as abused or neglected, an increase of 86 from the previous year. Community involvement in the project has been a success. Volunteers with the CASA program made phone calls to sponsors, handed out the wooden children to their sponsor, and prepared name tags. Chisholm High School Student Council volunteers helped bring the wooden children out of storage and displayed them for the sponsors to have easy access to choose the wooden child.
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Fostering involves dressing and displaying the children in the community, at their homes or businesses. On April 1st everyone brings them to the court house lawn where OG&E will have placed sturdy stakes to support the “wooden children” so they can stand throughout Child Abuse Prevention Month as reminders of the real children who are victims of abuse/neglect.
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If you are interested in sponsoring a wooden child, please call Garfield County Child Advocacy Council at 580-242-1153.
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"Foster" A Wooden Child
