GRAYSON CO., TX - Last year alone, at least 350 cases of child abuse were reported in Grayson County and processed through the Children's Advocacy Center. On Wednesday, each of those children was represented as part of an impressive display meant to raise awareness during Child Abuse Prevention month.

Child abuse is a serious problem around the nation, and right here in Grayson County. It comes in many forms from severe physical and sexual abuse to neglect. But one thing local leaders are sure of, it takes a whole community to put an end to the problem.

"There are almost a million children abused in this country every year and that's just horrible,” said Children’s Advocacy Center Executive Director Martha Nuckols. “And then when children need to be able to heal from that to become the productive citizens that we want them to be it's an uphill battle for them."

For Nuckols and the rest of the staff and volunteers at the Grayson County CAC, most of her job is helping children recover after being abused.

"We have to be the advocates for them,” she said. "This is a child friendly atmosphere we want to make sure the child is comfortable when they come here, it's a forensic interview which means it's a one on one interview, no one else is present, but CPS and law enforcement can observe."

But especially on Wednesday, her focus along with several other agencies is to raise awareness about child abuse prevention month.

"All three of our agencies work regularly to promote child abuse prevention and we do programs and we do speaking engagements all the time so it's not just during the month of April but all throughout the year,” said Amy Whaley with Child Protective Services.

Each blue pinwheel set out in front of the CAC represented a child that was abused and interviewed at the center. There were 350 pinwheels blowing in the wind, representing the children from last year alone. But Nuckols said the pinwheels don't even begin to show the whole problem.

"That's just a portion of the children abused in Grayson County, but those are the number that we interviewed,” said Nuckols.

Kids from the Montessori school next door also set out pinwheels, as the CAC, CPS and law enforcement want to make sure children know there is a safe place for them as well.

"They can know… that there are adults out there that they can trust to make reports or to tell things to, so it's a good event for the kids as well,” said Whaley.

The uphill battle against child abuse is a daily effort that takes many organizations and individual efforts.

"It's a community problem, everybody has to be aware, they need to know what child abuse is, what to look for, and what to do when a child does make an outcry to them, what they can do to get involved,” said Nuckols.

But the diligence and often difficult work of all of these agencies does pay off, and makes their efforts worth it.

"They were infants and children when they came in and started dealing with this and now we see them in the community as adults and that's just very rewarding to see them working adults in the community,” said Whaley.

The CAC and law enforcement encourage anyone who suspects or witnesses child abuse or neglect to immediately report it to authorities. They say the first steps in fighting this battle is being aware of abuse and reporting it.