Moree children are invited to get their art on during two events planned to celebrate 2019 National Child Protection Week.
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A number of Moree services have come together to organise two Arts in the Park events for 2019 Child Protection Week, which runs from September 1 to 7.
The first event will be held at Cooee Park for primary and high school students, aged nine to 17, from 10am to 2pm on Tuesday, September 3.
Students will have the opportunity to re-vamp the mosaic artwork already in place in the centre of the park, as well as paint the seating area and design and paint calico for the school to take back with them. There will also be the opportunity to interact with services that work in the child protection space. There will be services on hand to cover fields such as education, health, mental health, community services, disability and more, including Moree Family Support, Communities and Justice, Miyay Birray, Centacare, Northcott, TAFE, Flourish, Thiyama-Li, Hunter New England Health, Healthwise, PCYC, NSW Police and Fire and Rescue NSW.
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The second Arts in the Park event will be for younger children, aged zero to eight. It will be held at Apex Park from 10am to 1pm on Thursday, September 5.
The preschool and daycare aged children will have the opportunity to paint calico and participate in a range of arts and craft activities with services including Moree Family Support, Communities and Justice, Miyay Birray, Hippy, Centacare, Northcott, Thiyama-Li, Grace Lutheran Preschool, Goodstart, Big Sky Libraries, PCYC, NSW Police and Fire and Rescue NSW.
A free barbecue lunch be provided on both days.
National Child Protection Week is coordinated by the National Association for Prevention of Child abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) and aims to raise awareness of child abuse prevention. The idea of the week is to engage with members of the community in supporting families and protecting children.
"I believe it is important to arm kids and their parents with knowledge so that they know where to find help if they are ever in need of it and community events such as these are ways for the community to interact with these services in an informal setting," Moree Family Support's Shane Smith said.
"The community can come and join in on the fun as well as learn something new from services that work within child protection every day."
This year's theme 'kids do well when parents are supported', is focussed around child development, with the idea that to raise thriving kids, parents need support to navigate life's choppy waters.
"We see every day that when parents feel supported and know they can get help when they really need it, it eases some of the risk for children," Mr Smith said.
