Specialists gather in Dallas for world's largest conference aimed at fighting child abuse
DALLAS - The largest conference in the world aimed at combatting child abuse is happening this week in Dallas.
Some 5,000 people from around the world converged on Dallas this week for the Crimes Against Children Conference. The one-of-a-kind conference aims at protecting the vulnerable and innocent.
The conference is filled with workshops where police, counselors, prosecutors, social workers and others learn in real case studies new and different ways of looking at cases, analyzing evidence, forensic breakthroughs and creative ways of supporting victims and their families.
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"When you bring together the different disciplines in order to work these cases, this is when you get the best work that's put forward. So you need everyone with a different unique perspective on what they bring to working a case in order for us to ensure that that family not only gets one portion of an investigation but they get everything that they need," said Irish Burch, CEO of the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center. "So you have the investigation, the prosecution and the healing. So when all of these disciplines come together under one roof, they also can take back not a good understanding only about what they do but then you have a better understanding of what the other disciplines are also doing and what their roles are. And then you're able to bring that together to create a holistic approach to investigating cases."
The conference is for professionals. But on the Dallas Children's Advocacy website, there are resources for the public to know what to look for in children who you suspect could be a victim of some type of abuse.
The three-day event opened Sunday and ends Tuesday evening.
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