Child advocacy centers prioritize accelerated, secure digital evidence collaboration.
Child advocacy centers are at the center of Guardify. Guardify is proud to be serving 100 child advocacy centers collaborating with 1800+ institutional partners in justice and healing across 49 states. These centers vary in size and scope but are consistently aligned on one value: meaningful advances in the protection of child survivors of sexual assault, abuse, and neglect.
The hidden pandemic: child abuse.
We know during this pandemic that 40,000 fewer children have been served by child advocacy centers. And while in our hearts we wish this were due to factors related to a decrease in the incidents of abuse, we recognize during this unprecedented time that other indicators like hospitalizations and direct calls to hotlines by minors suggest that instead, abuse may just be further hidden from the view of protective adults. And we are committed to working with partners outside of our organization to help.
From California to New York, from North Dakota to Texas, VidaNyx is proud of the child advocacy centers we support that have protected more than 11,000 children since March alone. We know what they know – there are more children not counted in that number in need of protection. We recognize the urgency to identify and protect all children from a life of abuse and to ensure efforts addressing reports of abuse can move forward as quickly as possible without interruption.
The more that we can do to work together to improve the security, expediency, and quality of forensic interview collaboration, the better positioned these centers are to do the work they do best putting these children on pathways to well-being. With that spirit in mind, our child advocacy centers have been expanding the ways they are using Guardify during this unique time, taking full advantage of unlimited remote collaboration to securely share evidence with 80% more partners.
While 100 child advocacy centers are advancing their practice with secure digital sharing with Guardify, we know more can be done to support the field. We continue to hear stories all too familiar and recent of forensic interviews being shared with outdated practices on DVDs getting lost, damaged, or ending up in the public domain on social media and of larger batches of DVDs with forensic interviews being misplaced or lost. At Guardify, we know child advocacy centers and multidisciplinary teams recognize the children they serve deserve better.
Guardify’s commitment:
Guardify celebrates the champions in the front lines of this effort – from our very first child advocacy center to our one hundredth. And while we all work together toward the ultimate goal of child abuse prevention, our team at Guardify is committed to a world where justice and healing can begin immediately and the last thing survivors have to worry about is their most vulnerable truth ending up in the wrong hands.
