Child Advocacy Teams Around the U.S. Will Celebrate on July 9th

OMAHA, Neb., July 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- VidaNyx, the premier secure digital evidence collaboration enterprise supporting multidisciplinary collaboration on cases of child sexual assault, abuse, and neglect across more than 4,000 agencies in the US, will host the third annual Survivor Support Day on July 9th with national partners National Children's Alliance and Darkness to Light.

Officially proclaimed Survivor Support Day by Governors in multiple states from coast to coast, VidaNyx is proud to host keynote speaker, Tabitha Mpamira, international advocate, mental health therapist, and consultant on sexual and gender-based violence who founded EDJA in 2015 to provide free medical, legal, and mental health services to sexual assault survivors in East Africa. Ms. Mpamira, who was recognized with the 2018 People's Choice Waislitz Award by Global Citizen and was just honored with the Advocate Award June 30th by the Female Founders Alliance, will deliver a message of hope and healing for the professionals on the front lines of interrupting abuse and trauma.

"It is an honor to celebrate the heart of these incredible professionals delivering lifesaving services to children on a daily basis. We are thrilled to have Ms. Mpamira's expertise to provide some practical tools for these professionals to tend to their own wellbeing - especially after such a trying year," Sara Boyd, VidaNyx CEO. "Because we have the privilege to see the impact child advocacy makes on the lives of tens of thousands of survivors of abuse, we want to celebrate and amplify the strength and spirit of these amazing individuals and teams in their communities and across the country."

This year's free virtual event will honor four outstanding individuals or teams nominated by their peers and selected through a competitive national process for their incredible work amidst pandemic challenges in 2020.

The Survivor Support Day award winners are:

• Laura Bluehorse-Swift of the Puyallup Tribe Children of the River Child Advocacy Center has won Child Advocacy Leader. Bluehorse-Swift's personal passion has birthed the fully staffed system of multidisciplinary response in her tribal community. She maintains compassionate care in her leadership for all around her - especially valued during the pandemic and echoed by many of her biggest fans.
  
• Ivy Svoboda of the Nebraska Alliance of Child Advocacy Centers has won the Champion for Children. Svoboda has moved Nebraska child advocacy forward with her tireless, innovative legislative efforts, critical to child safety and well being. Her impact is amplified by her talent for securing grant funding for centers across the State.
  
• Jessica Kelly of the Hutchinson Police Department is being awarded as an individual for Child Advocacy Partner of the Year. Kelly is the only person on the force working with abused children in Hutchinson, and she regularly sacrifices her own time to go out of her way to provide any support needed to pursue justice for these children, making sure each of them know she supports them no matter what.
  
• The REACH team from Children's Health Medical Center Dallas won the organization honor for Child Advocacy Partner of the Year. The team's nominator shared, "Donning PPE, they continued to serve children and families, providing the excellent medical and mental health care we have come to expect of them, all the while walking with families when the uncertainty and shock that comes with a disclosure of abuse was compounded by the uncertainty of life during the pandemic. Every day they risked exposure to COVID-19, with some team members, like so many in our world, contracting COVID-19 along the way. They cared for each other during this time and never stopped caring for the most vulnerable children in Dallas County."

All advocates, supporters, and multidisciplinary professionals in child advocacy are encouraged to attend the free virtual event on July 9th.

Registration is available by visiting the events page on the VidaNyx website, located at vidanyx.com/events.

About VidaNyx
VidaNyx's mission is to support teams accelerating justice and healing for survivors of abuse, trafficking, and neglect. Trusted by more than 4,000 agencies in 49 states, multidisciplinary teams have securely collaborated using VidaNyx's premier digital evidence software to protect more than 50,000 child survivors of abuse and growing. More information on VidaNyx's impact can be found at vidanyx.com/impact.

About National Children's Alliance
National Children's Alliance (NCA) is a professional membership organization on a mission to make one big difference, one child at a time. Reaching everyone with a voice in eradicating abuse—from families, advocates, partner agencies, communities, researchers, and all the way to Capitol Hill—our members power a national movement to keep children safe. Featuring the largest network of care centers support child abuse victims in the country, NCA is a model in outcome-driven collaboration.  More information on NCA can be found at nationalchildrensalliance.org.

About Darkness to Light
Darkness to Light empowers adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse through awareness, education, and stigma reduction.  Their trainings are the only evidence-informed, adult-focused child sexual abuse prevention trainings proven to increase knowledge and change behavior. Their work empowers adults and organizations to bring in child safety to their own communities.  More information on Darkness to Light can be found at d2l.org.

Media contact
Hope Brown
Director of Outreach and Customer Success
402-216-8211
[email protected]

SOURCE VidaNyx