Community organization aims for awareness of child abuse

IOWA CITY - As a gust of wind picked up Saturday across City Park, a dozen kites along with the children flying them were propelled forward too.

Children laughed and parents knelt over them, guiding their small hands occasionally to ensure the kites' safe flight.

Seeing these sorts of moments brought satisfaction for organizers of Kites for Kids, an annual event focused on preventing child abuse.

'Seeing a parent interact with their children and helping them is awesome,” said Darin Kriener, a co-facilitator for the Johnson County Community Partnership for Protecting Children. 'Just ... raising awareness (about child abuse)will help.”

The community partnership, or CPPC, sponsored Kites for Kids, which encourages parents and children to fly kites in support of children who have been abused or neglected. The event also helps educate adults on parenting skills.

Kriener said parents usually do not intend to neglect their children, but find that there simply is not enough time in the day to do everything.

'It's not always done by an evil person like you think of,” he said. 'In general, things are a lot more stressful today. You need two breadwinners just to keep up with your family, and if there's more external stress with your family, you may not intend to neglect them but you may not get the time to yourself that you may be used to having. And if you're not doing self care, it's hard to care for other people.”

Jenna Davis of North Liberty, a parent who attended Saturday's event, said many times patience runs out for parents and children, which can lead to serious issues.

'I think a lot of it is just being tired,” Davis said. 'If you work all day and come home, you're tired, your kids are tired, and there's just not a lot of patience. People don't have an outlet to go to for help.”

Kites for Kids hoped either to provide an outlet for parents who are struggling or to provide information on how to help if someone witnesses child abuse.

Volunteer Jeri Zabka hopes the information helps people recognize abuse.

'I think a lot of people don't understand the levels of neglect,” Zabka said. 'You might think of a child being severely neglected, but may not think about if a child is left in a car or at home without supervision.”

Fourteen-year-old Sevyn Cramer said while it may not be child neglect, overreliance on technology is a concerning trend.

'I do see (parents) with their phones out or different devices,” Cramer said. 'It's not neglect, but I also see them giving their devices to calm down their kids and not deal with that.”

She added, as she was flying a red and blue kite, was glad that outdoor events such as Kites for Kids allow children and parents to put down their electronic devices and enjoy spending time together.

'I think if kids go outside, a parent will usually go out to watch them,” she said. 'You can go outside and now have the parent and kids bond.”