As summer draws to a close and the remaining schools in the nation open, social media has been flooded with cute back-to-school photos of proud parents showing off their children all geared up for the new school year.
However, for some parents, like those in Chicago, the school year brings some apprehension as they worry about their children's safety as they head back to Chicago Public Schools, CNN reports.
One Chicago father, Dennis Roach, made as much known as he included a short prayer in his Facebook post about his son, who was headed back to Milton Brunson Math & Science Specialty Elementary School for the first day of second grade.
"Lord I plead your blood over his life protect him and those around him as he go to and from in this crazy city of Chicago," Roach wrote Tuesday in his post, which included photos of his son, Kamarion, dressed to the nines.
Roach told CNN that he and his son live in Austin on Chicago's West Side. As CNN notes, 41 of this year's 500 homicides have been in Austin.
"I grew up around that type of stuff and violence," the 31-year-old dad told CNN. "That's why I want to give my son a better chance to see what's going on. Even though we're in the hood, you don't have to live like you're in [the hood]."
Roach told the network that he walked his son to school and planned to pick him up afterward.
"I just spent the whole summer with my son, and I don't want anything to happen to my son coming or going from school," he said. "When he comes home, I'll be relieved that nothing happened."
Read more at CNN.