Centre County organizations working to raise awareness for child abuse prevention
At a recent commissioners meeting, Stephanie Haldeman with Centre County Children and Youth Services said the office investigated over 200 cases of alleged child abuse in 2024. Of those, 18 were classified as abuse cases.
Theresa Kieffer, VP of Programs for the Youth Service Bureau (YSB), says abuse can stem from several factors.
'Families who have experienced abuse in their own lives and haven't been taught another way, or given the tools that they need to be able to raise their own children in that nurturance,' Kieffer said.
Centre County names April Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Kieffer says the YSB sees about 10-20 kids a day and helped roughly 10,000 in 2024 through different services like a reunification program, a girl's group home and space for homeless teens.
Though it is still important for kids to know what boundaries should be in place, Executive Branch Director for the YMCA of State College Jamie SanFilippo says it is crucial for adults to get involved with the process as well.
'At the end of the day, children are no match for a determined perpetrator,' SanFilippo said. 'So, again, it falls on us as adults to protect children.'
The YMCA and the YSB offer child abuse prevention training for adults and teens. SanFilippo says they have trained roughly 9,000 adults since 2012. In early 2024, they launched a new version of the training updated with new statistics about the state of child abuse.
'What we're seeing is a rise in peer-on-peer abuse. We're also seeing a rise in online sexual exploitation,' she said. 'So a lot of the facts that we're seeing are based around online abuse.'
She says about 400 adults have gone through the new training. While it is Child Abuse Prevention Month for April 2025, it is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month throughout the county as well.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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