A news conference was recently held at Longwood University commemorating April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Prince Edward County, drawing members of state and local government, Prince Edward County Social Services, students majoring in social work and more, who emphasized that everyone has a part to play in child abuse prevention.

The event was organized by Ian Danielsen, assistant professor with the social work program at Longwood, and his students taking a social work course from him called “Social Problems and Policy Development.”

With Danielsen creating the opportunity for his students to brainstorm, they ran with the idea of requesting the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors to adopt a resolution declaring April to be Child Abuse Prevention Month in the county.

They succeeded in this endeavor and then went about organizing events with Danielsen that supported theme.

One of the events was the news conference held in the Martinelli Board Room within Longwood’s Maugan’s Alumni Center. Among those who spoke at the event were students representing the “Social Problems and Policy Development” class: Haley Hobbs, Candace Freeman and Lacie Ellithorpe.

“I feel as though everyone has a part to play,” Ellithorpe said. “Our class, we just went into the semester as if it were just another college class we were taking to get to our degree, where we needed to be. But with the help of Professor Danielsen, we had the board of supervisors make a proclamation that’s going to affect this county for years and years and years to come — every April is now going to be Child Abuse Prevention Month for this county. And going into this semester, I don’t think any of us ever would have thought that we would have made such an impact. So everyone has a part to play.”

Del. Wendy Gooditis and Farmville Councilman Brian Vincent shared emotional stories that helped fuel their passion for child abuse prevention.

Megan Clark spoke about combating the problem of child abuse from her position as Prince Edward County Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Two members of Prince Edward County Social Services to speak were Family Services Specialist Christine Parker and Family Services Supervisor Kimberly Allen. They emphasized the importance of being educated on the epidemic and how it is everyone’s responsibility to report problems and to keep their community safe.

Danielsen, who also spent 10 years as Child Advocacy Center director for Great Richmond SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now), set the tone for the event with his opening comments that were followed by a brief video.

“As I look out among my colleagues, I can recall children’s cases that we’ve worked together, advocacy that we’ve done to make sure that the system was operating at the highest standards possible,” he said. “Some of my peers whom you see before you are in law enforcement, prosecution, representatives of local and state government, social services and scholarship among students. So I’m in tall company, I feel like.”

Danielsen highlighted how, too often, speaking about child abuse is taboo.

“These are the conversations that when brought up, people change the subject,” he said. “I think I’m speaking on behalf of my peers when I say if more of the general public were willing to take risks and bring maltreatment out of the darkness and into the light, so to speak, that we human services folks could be a whole lot more effective in helping those children and reducing child abuse through collaborations in child abuse prevention and response systems like the Child Advocacy Center. There are some studies that are beginning to evidence that perhaps in some places, child sexual abuse is actually beginning to reduce. I think kids probably, more than ever, know how to tell in ways that they didn’t know. The kids look out to the system, and they can actually begin to see something there when they couldn’t see something before.”

“So in this way, we would be remiss if we let April come and go without pulling together as a team, sharing expertise and collectively renewing our commitment and challenging ourselves and one another to have that courage,” he continued, “to see maltreatment where it is, to do something if we see something. Even if we don’t see something that it is actionable, we can always act by seeking more information. So kids will get better when we connect better together.”

Near the end of the news conference Gooditis shared what she hoped people would take away from the month that could reach to the state level.

“Because of the position I’m in, it would be to stay engaged and certainly working in your community,” she said, “but if something needs to be changed and whether you are bringing the idea for a bill to a legislator or not, if you know of a bill that you really think ought to pass, than keep in contact and contact your legislators and make sure they know, because a bill is much more likely to pass if we know that people — whether it’s our constituents or people from all over Virginia — are watching it and are really (pushing) for it.”