MBOP Event Raises Awareness

By NICK YAMASHITA

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Band of Paiutes (MBOP) held its annual Child Abuse and Neglect Awareness Fair on Friday, April 19 at the Tribal Administration Center on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. The event featured vendors giving out information on pertinent resources available to members of the Moapa Paiute Tribe.

The first part of the event allowed attendees to visit each vendor and obtain information about available resources and services. This included vendors such as the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada, Indian Health Services, the Empowerment Centre, Summerlin Lion’s Club and many more. There were also tribal members who had business vendor booths on display.

Children played in an inflatable bouncy castle from Moreno’s Rentals. All enjoyed cotton candy and shaved ice treats provided at the event.

Later that morning, a parade proceeded down Lincoln Street to the Tribal Center. The parade featured clowns and even a bearded lady.

An Easter egg hunt was a delight to the kids in attendance.
“This event is good,” said Starla Serawop of the Indian Health Services (IHS). “It brings awareness out in the community. April is child abuse awareness month, so this is a positive way to bring everyone together to raise awareness on this issue.”

IHS helps relay information to the people about what they offer in help and services Serawop explained. Pertaining to child abuse and neglect situations, the IHS has the capability to give mental health referrals to professionals who give counseling and can help children as well as adults cope with abuse.

The IHS staff attended from Parker, Nevada, having traveled four hours to attend this event. There is an IHS sub-clinic at the MBOP reservation, the Irene Benn Medical Clinic. The local clinic offers medical and health services to the local community in Moapa.

Also attending Friday’s event was the Empowerment Centre that is located in Overton. The Centre features counseling for individuals and families, including addiction therapy and more. The Empowerment Centre has fully licensed counselors on hand to help individuals and families overcome the negative effects of child abuse.

According to the Department of Family Services in Clark County, there have 7,686 abuse and neglect referrals received in the state of Nevada thus far this year. This includes 2,842 Child Protective Services investigations and 424 substantiated CPS investigations. These are statistics of reported cases only.