DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF)- Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center hosts it’s annual Crimes Against Children Conference in Downtown Dallas. The four-day conference at the Sheraton Hotel hosts 5,200 people from around the world. “65-70% are either state local and federal law enforcement agencies, the rest are child advocates, prosecutors, nurses, therapists or anyone who works in the child abuse field and they are hoping to get best practices and take them back to their community,” said Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center CEO Lynn Davis. They have over 300 speakers in 500 workshops to teach people how to investigate, prosecute and work with abused children.
“There is something for everyone for the beginner detective from the seasoned detective and they are here to hear from the best of the best,” said Davis. Davis says a lot of the IT companies are here like, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google as well. “A lot of the child abuse cases we see are coming from the internet…there’s been an increase,” Davis said. “These internet based-companies want to know how to best deal with law enforcement agencies and vise versa,” he said. Hetty Johnston traveled from Australia. She’s the founder of Bravehearts Foundation and says it’s the only one there. “I will walk on coals to get to this conference. It’s the best,” she said. Johnston started her company after her daughter was sexually assaulted at age 6. “We don’t have child advocacy centers in Australia…we want them,” she said. “There’s so much knowledge and contacts here so we can take this back with us and convince our politicians that this is the way to go,” she said. Johnston hopes that by this time next year, more resources will be available for kids in Australia.
This conference also ties into back to school for kids. Davis says there’s actually a spike in reported child abuse this time of year as children have been home all summer.
The Dallas Children’s Advicacy Cwenter was founded 30 years ago in Dallas. For more information visit www.dcac.org