The Washington County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday. On the agenda was a proclamation naming April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Washington County. Tammy Wetjen-Kesterson Child Welfare and Decategorization Director of Southeast Iowa Early Childhood Development gave a presentation on the importance of bringing awareness to Child Abuse Prevention. She states, “We are initiating several efforts in Washington County to address child abuse directly. So we are able to provide some funds locally for our child welfare folks through HHS to work directly with families to meet some of those ongoing needs that they would have that would move them into the system. I am here to tell you today that we are seeing a continuous uptick in the number of reported cases. At our last meeting, our area supervisor for HHS shared with the board that they are seeing about an average of 90 to 100 intakes a month.” The board voted unanimously to approve the proclamation. April 7th is National Blue Out Day, a campaign meant to bring businesses and organizations together to raise awareness for child maltreatment prevention efforts in the community.