The Central Alabama Regional Child Advocacy Center annual pinwheel garden will be planted on Tuesday afternoon.

The Child Advocacy Center plants the pinwheel garden every year in April because April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Three-hundred pinwheels will be planted on the grounds of the Child Advocacy Center to honor the nearly 300 children involved in child abuse investigations last year who are now safe and protected.

“When you see a pinwheel spin you have to smile,” said Child Advocacy Center Executive Director Laurie Cothran. “But it’s a bitter-sweet smile because of what the pinwheels represent.”

Cothran said that the pinwheels are one of the main ways that the Child Advocacy Center spreads awareness about abuse, and that awareness is crucial.

“I have to be very careful about how I word this,” said Cothran. “But I’m happy to see new reports. If an instance isn’t reported, then a child has to suffer in silence.”

Following the planting of the pinwheel garden, Cothran will give a tour of the Child Advocacy Center to visitors.

“People become very moved when they see where it all takes place,” said Cothran. “Some people don’t want to go into the rooms where we conduct the interviews.”

The Child Advocacy Center conducts interviews with children involved in abuse cases while Department of Human Resources (DHR) representatives and law enforcement watch on a closed circuit television.

This method keeps children from being repeatedly asked painful questions.

“We work very closely with DHR and law enforcement,” said Cothran. “Each month we sit with them and review all of our open cases in all five of the counties in which we operate.”

Cothran encourages everyone to come out and see how the center makes a difference in children’s lives and to see the pinwheels in action.

“Watching a pinwheel spin fills you with positivity,” she said. “It’s the way every child deserves to feel all the time.”

The planting of the pinwheel garden will take place Tuesday, April 9, at 12:15 p.m. at the Child Advocacy Center located at 420 Broad St.