“We will have a moment of silence led by Pastor Heyboer from the First Baptist Church in Knox,” said Elam. “It will be held in the municipal parking lot adjacent to the Knox police station. Everyone is welcome.”
Dee Lynch from the Department of Child Services adds that a high number abuse cases are reported every year in Starke County. If you witness abuse and need to report it, she advises you to call DCS.
“You can call our call center and it’s done a little bit differently now. You used to be able to call the local offices, but now you can call our call center in Indianapolis at 1-800-800-5556. You give them the information and then they route it to the appropriate county,” said Lynch.
With the amount of methamphetamine cases in the county, DCS is often called to assist law enforcement as children are often victims in those cases.
“Generally we do co-assessments together. If they arrest the parents, then we totally get involved because we’ll need to find placement for the children,” Lynch said.
The candlelight vigil for victims of child abuse will be held in every county in the state on Tuesday, April 16 and the vigil in Starke County will begin at 7 p.m. CT.
