Kingfisher County’s Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers and their coordinator Heather Jones are planning a new display for Child Abuse Prevention Month to highlight the impact of child abuse and neglect.

The Wooden Children Child Abuse Prevention Project is a display planned for the Kingfisher County Courthouse lawn for the entire month of April.

The display will include 62 toddler-sized wooden cutouts – one for each child in Kingfisher County whose abuse or neglect was confirmed by the Department of Human Services in 2019.

The cutouts were created by the Kingfisher High School ag program and their faces were painted by Kingfisher Middle School art students and STARS program participants.

Local organizations, churches or individuals are being asked to help finance the program by “fostering” one or more children, dressing them in size 3T clothing and then returning them to be displayed beginning April 1.

“Clothes purchased from thrift stores or donated are fine, but your doll also could be personalized to reflect your organization,” Jones said.

The Wooden Children Project was originally started in 2013 by the Garfield County Child Advocacy Council as a way of making the community aware of the number of children that are abused and neglected in Garfield County.

Kingfisher County DHS and other organizations traditionally created courthouse displays to commemorate Child Abuse Prevention Month, often using pinwheels, balloons or other items to represent the county’s abused and neglected caseload.

“The Wooden Children Project is just an extension of that idea that we hope will have an even bigger impact highlighting the fact that our abuse and neglect numbers involve actual children in our county,” Jones said. “We appreciate the schools allowing students to be involved and we hope the community will get behind this idea as well.”

Any group interested in sponsoring a wooden child is asked to email VolCoor5@thecarecampus.com or call (580) 213-9963.