Dixon’s Hands Around the Courthouse aims to raise child abuse prevention awareness

DIXON — About 100 people gathered outside the Old Lee County Courthouse in Dixon on Friday afternoon holding up blue pinwheels, the national symbol for child abuse prevention, at Shining Star Children’s Advocacy Center’s third annual Hands Around the Courthouse.

The event called attention to April’s Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month. The 2025 theme is “Powered by hope and strengthened by connection,” said Aram Perry, deputy director of child protection at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

“The pinwheel in a symbol of hope,” Shining Star Executive Director Jessica Cash said.

But the month is “about more than ribbons and posters and our pinwheels. It’s about real children, real pain, and real hope. Thanks to the work of Shining Star Children’s Advocacy Center that hope is alive and growing,” Lee County Assistant State’s Attorney Bridget Schott said.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 6

Approximately 100 people attend “Hands Around the Courthouse” Friday, April 25, 2025, to bring attention to Child Abuse Prevention Month. The blue pinwheel is a national symbol of child abuse prevention. (Alex T. Paschal)

Shining Star is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocacy center serving those in Lee and Ogle counties. The center works with area law enforcement, prosecutors and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to investigate allegations of child abuse and, particularly, child sex abuse.

Schott said in her 14 years as a prosecutor across Illinois, the best CAC she’s worked with is Shining Star.

“Our community really comes out and supports Shining Star and, by doing so, we as a community are telling our children we believe you,” she said.

At the event, one community member, Mel Burgett of Dixon, was honored for his longtime support of the center. One of the ways he does that is by not accepting payment for catching moles in others yards. Instead, Burgett asks others to donate to the center, Cash said.

One of many services Shining Star provides is conducting forensic interviews with a child whom they suspect has been abused. The interview is designed so the child only has to tell their story once to a forensic interviewer who knows the right questions to ask in a way that does not retraumatize the child. Law enforcement professionals who need to see the interview can watch on a monitor in a separate room, Cash said.

In 2024, the center conducted 181 interviews with new children coming to the center, Cash said.

On average, the agency provides services to about 300 children in Lee and Ogle counties each year. Within that 300, about 150 to 250 of them are new to the center, she said.

“That’s just here in our community and while the statistics are staggering, what’s even more heartbreaking is that behind every number is a child. A child who is scared, silenced and often suffering in isolation,” Schott said.

In Illinois there are 40 CACs, including Shining Star, that also provide referrals to mental health services, medical exams, courtroom preparation, victim advocacy and more. At Shining Star, the agency has a full-time counselor, who will provide individual counseling, as well as two support groups for teenagers and the child’s parents or caregivers.

Cash noted that all of the center’s services are completely free to the children and their caregivers. It’s entirely funded through federal and state grants, as well as donations and fundraisers.

Shining Star has a T-shirt fundraiser and a jail and bail fundraiser that are ongoing through April. On its website, there’s an ongoing wish list of in-need items, including things such as juice boxes, individual snacks, fleece blankets and more. Monetary donations can also be made on its website.

Suspected child abuse can be reported to the DCFS Hotline at 1-800-25-ABUSE.