Every December, I find myself doing the same thing—leaning back in my chair, letting the chaos of the year finally settle, and asking the question I imagine many of you ask: Did we make a dent? Did we put a crack in the darkness?
Looking at the stories you lived this year, the answer is unmistakably yes.
This year wasn’t simple. Federal shifts rippled into state budgets. Caseloads didn’t slow down. Training expectations piled on top of already thin staffing. And technology—well, some days it felt like we were all trying to run a modern justice system on tools built for a world that no longer exists.
But in the middle of all that turbulence, you didn’t stall. You invented. You adapted. You held your communities together with the kind of grit and clarity that makes the rest of us stand taller.
And the stories you created—those are what matter.
When a Child’s Story Was Mistakenly Shared Online… and What Happened Next
One New Mexico center lived through every agency’s nightmare this year:
A forensic interview—an incredibly vulnerable disclosure—ended up posted publicly online. A child’s trauma, accidentally on display.
Their director told us, and I’ll quote them directly:
“We realized in that moment how fragile the chain of custody can be. We needed a system that protected our kids even when humans make human mistakes. Guardify gave us that peace of mind.”
Hopeful. Protective. Clear.
They didn’t tell that story to shame anyone—they shared it so that others wouldn’t have to learn the hard way. And they rebuilt stronger, with a system that now shields them from the digital accidents that can undo trust with a single click.
1,000 Hours of Footage, One Prosecutor, and a Breakthrough
In another part of the country, a prosecutor faced an impossible task:
Reviewing more than 1,000 hours of video in a case involving a grandfather who had abused his own grandchildren.
Without the right tools, that workload would have stretched months—maybe so long that the case itself would have been jeopardized.
Here’s what they told us:
“I could never have pursued these charges without the ability to analyze that volume of evidence. The technology didn’t just save time—it made justice possible.”
This is what happens when innovation meets purpose.
Technology doesn’t replace the human judgment; it accelerates your ability to act on it.
The Year You Pushed Through Every Headwind
Let’s name it plainly:
– Federal funding shifts created gaps.
– Budget freezes pinched operations.
– Rising caseloads collided with stagnant staffing.
– Training expectations grew as threats and demands changed.
– And the gap between legacy technology and the modern world widened to a breaking point.
Yet, across child advocacy centers, prosecutor’s offices, law enforcement, and multidisciplinary teams, you chose resilience over retreat.
You found creative solutions.
You leaned on partnerships.
You advocated for your communities when it would have been easier to look away.
That’s the part of the story the public never sees. But we do.
What We Witnessed With You
This year, we watched:
– Centers modernize decades-old workflows overnight.
– Prosecutors close cases because their evidence wasn’t just organized—it was actionable.
– Forensic interviewers keep children safer by securing interviews the moment they stop recording.
– Law enforcement teams finally break free from aging servers and systems held together by whatever IT could find on Amazon at 2 a.m.
– Multidisciplinary teams unlock new coordination through the Justice Hub ecosystem.
And through our own partnerships and grant programs, Guardify contributed more than $700,000 back into the child advocacy community—funding technology, supporting growth, and helping centers shore up where the federal budget fell short.
Not because it’s good PR, but because it’s the right thing to do.
Because You’re the Unsung Heroes
If I could line up every person who makes this world safer—the forensic interviewers, detectives, prosecutors, SANE nurses, family advocates, medical teams, MD coordinators, and all the specialists who stitch broken systems back together—I’d tell each of you the same thing:
The world doesn’t see half of what you carry.
But it’s stronger because you carry it.
And if readers want a reminder of the depth of that calling, we’ve gathered stories and tributes from Forensic Interviewer Week and MDT celebrations here:
[Link: Our FI Week & MDT Appreciation Stories]
Where We’re Going Together
This year pushed all of us.
It exposed the widening gap between justice workers and the tools they’ve been given.
And it clarified our mission:
To close that gap for good.
That’s why we expanded Guardify Connect, accelerated development of the Justice Hub, invested in AI-driven workflows, and integrated advanced redaction, detection, and identification into our ecosystem.
Your headwinds shaped our strategy.
Your courage shaped our urgency.
The Rallying Cry for the Year Ahead
If you take nothing else from this lookback, take this:
You did not endure this year—you overcame it.
You held the line for the children, survivors, and communities who needed you the most. You innovated under pressure. You found daylight in a year full of shadows.
And as we step into the next chapter, you won’t walk it alone.
We’re building alongside you—faster, smarter, and more focused—because the work you do deserves tools that match the weight of the mission.
So here’s to the year behind us, and to the one coming fast:
Let’s take every ounce of strength, skill, and resilience you showed this year and use it to build something even better.
The darkness doesn’t get smaller on its own.
But with you, the light gets bigger every year.
With care,
Ben Jackson
CEO, Guardify
