Family and Children Services launched the annual Purple Ribbon Campaign at the Wellington County Museum and Archives here on Oct. 9.
Each October, to recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month, Children’s Aid Societies hold a Purple Ribbon Campaign to raise awareness about child abuse and how it can be prevented.
“Purple Ribbon is a time for us to talk about children in need in the community,” said Daniel Moore, FCS executive director.
Guests such as Wellington County Warden Chris White, county councillor Don McKay and Detective Sergeant Caren Ashmore joined FCS in launching the campaign.
Family and Children Services of Guelph and Wellington County is celebrating its 120th anniversary, having provided services to families and children in need since 1893.
Moore presented a letter written by J.J. Kelso, the first employee in the provincial government responsible for child protection.
The letter, dated from 1898, represented the formal connection and first partnership between the House of Industry and Refuge (now the Wellington County Museum and Archives) and Family and Children Services.
An encounter with two young children on the streets of Toronto is what inspired Kelso to start the movement.
The young children asked Kelso for money and said if they didn’t bring money home, they would be beaten.
In those days, there were no laws stating this was not allowed.
Then the movement was born, along with the first Children’s Aid society in the province.
FCS receives roughly 3,000 calls a year, and responds to about 1,800.
If the agency has enough information to indicate a child is in need, a worker is sent to the home to meet the families and interview the children.
“It’s our children that are our future,” McKay said at the event last week.
