Driving past Riverview Park in Sebastian it’s hard to miss the field of blue and white flags billowing in the breeze. It makes a beautiful picture until you realize that each of the 101 flags represents a child that died in Florida in 2016 as the result of child abuse.
A somber crowd gathered last Thursday evening for a dedication ceremony honoring those children whose lives were senselessly cut short. For more than 10 years, CASTLE has erected a Memory Field, taking it to sites throughout the Treasure Coast.
Local law enforcement, community leaders, abuse survivors and children’s advocates walked about the flags, pausing to read each child’s name and age. The youngest was 1-month-old Chloe who, like the others, will never have the chance to play with dolls, ride a bike or dress up for a prom.
Sebastian Mayor Bob McPartlan is dedicated to the eradication of child abuse, and as he helped place a flag last Wednesday, he was approached by a city employee who was dumbfounded to discover that the flag represented a “real child” that had died.
For 36 years CASTLE has remained focused on preventing child abuse through education and awareness, and Anastasia Legakes, CASTLE director of operations said the Memory Field serves as a reminder that help is available.
“We at CASTLE strongly believe that child abuse is preventable. We believe that parents don’t wake up one day and decide to be bad parents. CASTLE’s job is to educate parents in providing nurturing, loving and supportive environments for their children,” said Legakes.
Tiffany Rusinko, now a supervisor for CASTLE’s Safe Families Program, shared her own story of what life was like growing up in an abusive home.
“I’m a strong adult but once I was a very broken little girl,” she began, relating through tears that she had been born to a drug-addicted mother who had neither the patience nor the skills to care for a newborn.
“My parents would put me in a drawer and close it while they got high and my father had to stop my mom from beating me when I cried,” she said.
“My mother left me with a known pedophile, my grandfather. He would drug my formula and cereal with Valium and wait until I fell asleep. My mother knew who she was leaving me with as he had done the same thing with her and other people in the family,” said Rusinko. “But my mother’s drug addiction took over her maternal instincts.”
As she shared one horrifying experience after another, many in the crowd were visibly moved by her story, even the members of Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.), whose vulnerable side showed through their outwardly tough appearance.
“Looking back,” said Rusinko, “there could have been a memory flag with my name on it. Although I survived a childhood without CASTLE, why would we allow any child to go through what I went through?”
“For the last several weeks CASTLE has memorialized children who tragically lost their lives last year at the hands of child abuse,” said Marilyn Wallach, board member. “There should not even be one. Our goal is to not have any flags anymore. We ask that everyone in the community take a stand to help stop the cycle of abuse.”