Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky hosts Upstream Academy at Sloan Convention Center

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Child abuse can be a difficult and painful topic to talk about, but bringing it to the forefront is key to preventing it.

On Monday at the Sloan Convention Center, Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky hosted its Upstream Academy event, bringing together volunteers who donate their time to help keep some of the most vulnerable in our community safe. Organizers say supporting families and providing resources can help prevent mistreatment and even improve a child’s long-term health and life expectancy.

“What we see happen in communities where you have everyone come together to support families in each other. We see that the community thrives, the family thrives, and that child thrives into adulthood. When we prevent maltreatment, we prevent substance use disorders, behavioral health indicators in school. We know that our kids can have a longer life expectancy by up to 20 years,” said assistant director of Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky Janna Estep Jordan.

Volunteers took part in a structured training program designed to help them in a variety of settings.

“Today they’re attending our training, so they will be receiving our four different Upstream Academy curricula. And then after they graduate from our our Tot today, they will be bringing back all of this prevention education to their local communities,” said Amanda Clark, Upstream Academy coordinator for Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky.

Before the academy started, they also honored Kentucky State Representative Samara Heavrin for her work in the Kentucky House of Representatives.

Heavrin said that she does not have any kids of her own, so she considers all the children of the state her children.