Protecting Our Children Conference to unite community professionals
Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, in partnership with the Kane County Health Department and the All Our Kids Early Childhood Network, is hosting a conference to focus on child abuse, child maltreatment and child human trafficking.
The full-day symposium will take place from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at the Waubonsee Community College Academic and Professional Center, off Route 47 in Sugar Grove.
The goal is to unite area physicians and other health care providers, social workers, law enforcement, educators and lawyers on how to better identify and report child abuse or neglect.
"We are very proud of the Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital Child Protection Team for helping to bring this conference to fruition," said Trina Krischon, Child Life Specialist with Northwestern Medicine. "The identified need to provide all professionals working with children a comprehensive education on the importance of recognizing and reporting suspected cases of child abuse has created tremendous momentum with this very worthwhile endeavor."
In 2018, there was a 7.5 percent increase in agencies referring children to the Kane County Child Advocacy Center. The CAC believes this increase to be a result of greater awareness on how to respond to and report such abuses, rather than an increase in actual criminal activity, according to the 2018 Kane County State's Attorney's Office Annual Report.
"Adverse events that occur in childhood can have a life-long impact on an individual's mental and physical health," said Barbara Jeffers, Executive Director of the Kane County Health Department. "This event provides an excellent opportunity for professionals to learn the latest science about how we can work together to protect our children."
Event speakers will share their knowledge, insights and statistical data on various aspects of child abuse and emphasize the importance of a multidimensional approach across different sectors to better protect children in the community.
Key speakers include Dr. Raymond Davis Jr., medical director for the Medical Evaluation Response Initiative Team (MERIT); Dr. Eric Nolan, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Delnor Hospital and expert in the psychological impact of trauma; and Dr. Kirsten Simonton from the Division of Child Abuse Pediatrics at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
The conference also provides local organizations who are committed to the goal of protecting children with the opportunity to network and share resources to create a strong support system for abused and neglected children. For more information and to register to attend, please visit pocc.nm.org.