April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, but Assistant District Attorney Scott Layh knows child abuse itself isn't defined by the calendar.

"It's not just a year-round issue; it's a lifetime issue," Layh said at the Harmony Home Children Advocacy Center's awareness month kickoff Monday afternoon at the Ector County Courthouse. "We need to educate society."

Shawndee Kennedy, Harmony Home program director, said that awareness is a problem.

"With child abuse, it's a big stigma," Kennedy said, adding that the vast majority of cases they see involve sexual abuse. "People don't want to talk about it."

Mayor Larry Melton said at the event that in 2009, Child Protective Services investigated 2,710 incidents in Ector County with more than 900 children confirmed as victims of child abuse.

"Less than 35 percent of child-abuse incidents are reported to authorities," Melton said.

Harmony Home provides free therapy for abused children and family members. At the request of law enforcement, Harmony Home also has professionally trained staff conduct forensic interviews of children who have been abused or witnessed crimes.

Layh said that Harmony Home conducted 416 forensic interviews in 2009, up from 356 in 2006, although he believed the increase was due to more awareness rather than more abuse.

"Children aren't going to report this on their own. We need to see it for ourselves," Layh said.

April is also the start of the nonprofit Harmony Home's annual fundraising drive, and board president Amy Seaton said that this year the organization is also accepting donations for bricks and pavers for a memorial garden inspired by Harmony Home co-founder Ruff Ahder who passed away in April 2009.

"We're giving people a chance to do something in their loved one's memory or honor," Seaton said.

HOW TO HELP

>> Send mail to Harmony Home Children's Advocacy Center, P.O. Box 3087, Odessa, TX 79760, or call 333-5233.