PCA Partnering With The National Center for Missing And Exploited Children
On June 19, 2024, Prevent Child Abuse Jefferson County will host a virtual NetSmartz Internet Safety for Adults. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is uniquely situated to identify trends, and create educational resources to address the changing needs of children, families, and communities. Megan Banet with the Indiana Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse & Suicide will facilitate the first training for PCA team members and other agencies from counties throughout Indiana using curriculum from the nation’s largest and most influential child protection agency, NCMEC.
NCMEC provides safety and prevention resources for families and child-serving professionals focusing on the topics of online and real-world safety, including skills on how to handle a variety of situations ranging from staying home alone to knowing what to do in case of an emergency, to abduction and child sexual exploitation prevention. Since having met with PCA Indiana, our local chapter learned that the Indiana State Police need more “legs on the ground” shedding light on the very real issue with online perpetrators in Southern Indiana. For more information about Education with NCMEC visit https://www.missingkids.org/education.
Board Member for PCA, Whitney Roberts shares, “We know that once we begin our work in combating internet crimes against children in our county, perpetrators will begin working harder in other surrounding counties.” Board President for PCA, Linda Zapp adds, “We have been working with PCA Indiana, and feel strongly that learning more about reducing internet crimes against children is a top priority. This is where the newly formed Prevent Child Abuse Team will start working in June. Our goal is to have individuals trained to properly inform our communities, from adults to children, so the weight of child abuse situations are not entirely on the shoulders of PCA and other agencies that are providing insight and resources to prevent this abuse. Facilitation and collaboration is key. With the proven behaviors of online predators, we would be doing a disservice not to include our neighbors.”
Once willing community members are identified to represent PCA in this effort, PCA will conduct thorough background, fingerprint, and CPS checks, then invite qualifying individuals to complete the NCMEC training at which point schools, churches, families, and other agencies can call upon our representatives to conduct group training as needed. “We are unsure of the process in which other agencies will vet their representatives, but as a child serving organization, PCA will ensure our representatives meet our qualifications.” Roberts. The needs of every community are different, and this opportunity allows our Indiana counties to join forces to combat this issue.
We invite community members from Jefferson and surrounding counties to join us virtually June 19, 2024 from 12:00-1:00. This training will not only assist participants in learning more about online predators, but will also assist PCA in identifying individulas who are willing to teach the cirriculum in the near future. If you or someone you know may be interested in this opportunity, please register at (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/875312722917?aff=oddtdtcreator)
