Episode 35: Special COVID-19 Series: Child Abuse Victim Assistance During Stay at Home Order

Description: DA Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County Office of Education Superintendent Dave Gordon, The Child Abuse Prevention Center President & CEO Sheila Boxley, Sacramento County Department of Child, Family and Adult Services Director Michelle Callejas, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Detective Christie Hirota, and Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Dawn Bladet discuss how child abuse victims can still get help and services during this time.

Show Notes:  Dave, Michelle, Sheila and Christie give brief overviews of how their organizations support children and protect and assist victims of child abuse.

Dave talks about how educators and school districts are adjusting to how they engage with students and their ability to identify and report suspected abuse during this time of unprecedented school closures.

Michelle and Sheila then explain how their organizations are still working remotely, or adhering to the social distance public health safety precautions, to engage and protect children.  They each discuss different ways they are working – whether by text, chat, social media messaging or traditional hotlines/phone calls.

Christie shares how children and their parents can protect themselves from online predators and threats.  She also talks about challenges and solutions to children being at home on their devices and online more than ever with distance learning.

Dawn explains how child abuse cases and the court process is different during the public health order, but that the justice system continues to work and DA victim advocates are still providing support services.  They also discuss changes to bail to lessen the jail population.

The group closes by discussing how the community can help prevent and protect victims of child abuse by reaching out to family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to check on them.  If they hear, see and suspect something is not right and a child might be in an abusive situation – to report it.

To listen to the Domestic Violence Resources During the COVID-19 Stay At Home Order Zoom Podcast, visit https://sacda.orgmedia/podcast

For alerts on price gouging and looting during a state of emergency as well as the public health order, visit our website at www.sacda.org.  For the latest COVID-19 information and status updates visit Sacramento County’s website at saccounty.net.

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 Tags – Child Abuse, Family Violence, District Attorney, Justice Journal Podcast, COVID-19, Coronavirus, Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County Office of Education, SCOE, The Child Abuse Prevention Center, Sacramento County Department of Child, Family and Adult Services, Cybercrimes, Sacramento Sheriff’s Office