Peace House, the domestic violence prevention nonprofit, will commemorate National Child Abuse Prevention Month with “Keeping Kids Safe.”
The free workshop, which will be presented in English and Spanish, is open to families and adults living in Summit and Wasatch counties.
It will run from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 20, at Timpanogos Middle School, 1415 E. 980 South, in Heber City, according to Emma Zevallos, Peace House director of prevention and education.
“It’s two hours, but I think it’s a good investment to learn how to keep all the children safe and learn about resources that are available to the public,” she said.
The event will start with lunch provided by Quesabirrias, one of Heber City’s Mexican restaurants, and sponsored by the Summit County Health Department, Zevallos said.
“During lunch, our prevention coordinator will give a presentation about our Safer Smarter Kids curriculum that is the child-abuse prevention curriculum we teach about at middle- and high school-level,” she said. “We usually teach this to kids as young as 8 and as old as 18, but parents aren’t getting that information. So we want to close that gap with this presentation.”
After lunch, the children will participate in a Trusted Triangle activity, according to Zevallos.
“Trusted Triangle is where kids in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade select three trusted adults — one in their home, one in their school and one in their communities,” she said. “The goal of this program is to provide kids with an adult to talk with when they feel threatened or scared, and it will also help adults understand why children in their communities might show up with a triangle that can be posted in their home windows to show they are trusted adults.”
These two programs are part of the curriculum Peace House takes into schools in Summit and Wasatch counties, Zevallos said.
“We work with 25 schools between the counties, and we do almost 300 presentations a year,” she said. “Through those presentations, we connect with about 17,000 students.”
After a 10-minute break, all the kids in attendance will be treated to a show by Kim’s Cold Blooded Creatures, presented by Kim Lange, who owns a stable of exotic pets, including reptiles, insects and arachnids.
“At this time, I will give a presentation to the adults,” Zevallos said. “I plan to talk about child safety, child abuse prevention and services that are available in the area.”
Zevallos will also help the adults define and understand the laws regarding child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and identify and understand the differences between behaviors that are red flags of abuse and behaviors typical of developmental ages.
“I will also help parents understand how to report abuse to authorities, teach them child-friendly language and communication strategies, how to identify community resources and how to access them,” she said. “Another big thing we’re adding this year is how to identify the difference between discipline and abuse because we’re noticing a lot of people don’t understand that.”
The event’s closing speaker will be McKenzie Gardner, forensic interview specialist with the Summit County Children’s Justice Center.
In addition, the event will feature tables set up by Peace House’s community partners, including the Christian Center of Park City, Heber City Police Department, Utah Division of Child and Family Services and Holy Cross Ministries, Zevallos said.
“We plan to have around 10 tables set up at the beginning of the event, so parents can receive information about resources,” she said. “Community partners are vital to getting the word out for this type of work. There has to be a lot of collaboration. The goal of prevention is to tackle it before it happens. And we want to make sure people have these tools and that they are empowered to use them.”