The Barbara Sinatra Children's Center, in partnership with gold-medal gymnast and advocate, Aly Raisman has launched FightChildAbuse.org's Virtual Event Series to combat child abuse. 

Raisman kicks off the first virtual event of the series for Grades 4-6, December 17 at 1 pm EST on FightChildAbuse.org. The gold medalist will share her own journey as a survivor and highlight the fightchildabuse.org tools and resources to help those in vulnerable situations.

“It’s critical that abuse awareness is discussed openly with children and as adults, it’s our responsibility to provide them with tools and strategies to recognize unsafe situations and encourage help-seeking behavior,” said Raisman. “During these especially challenging times, more kids find themselves at home, which isn’t always a safe environment. We need to empower them to use their voice and tell a trusted adult if they are being hurt, neglected or feel confused.”

The new virtual campaign brings child abuse prevention and awareness content to life by pairing those impacted by abuse with customized, interactive segments and animated conversations with characters from the Fight Child Abuse campaign. These real-life personalities will discuss ways to help recognize and respond to abuse.

"We will use this platform to drive the conversation about child abuse and raise awareness," said John Thoresen, Director, and CEO of the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center Foundation. "Given the increased vulnerability caused by the pandemic quarantine, we developed this resource to help protect and advocate for those in vulnerable situations," he said.

The new campaign debuts as the country grapples with a potentially devastating second wave of COVID-19. As winter forces more communities back into their homes, at-risk children become susceptible to being isolated with their abusers and cut off from teachers and other trusted adults in whom they might usually confide. In response, The Center's newly debuted virtual speaker series will enable young people to discuss their experiences and emotions with those who can, simultaneously, provide guidance about seeking help. 

The campaign launch follows the Center's recently released Protect Yourself Rules video series designed to prevent abuse. Child advocates, therapists, and national scholars joined together in developing the animated series, which is now in use throughout the world.

To date, Barbara Sinatra Children's Center's prevent-abuse videos have reached an estimated 100 million children worldwide, having generated over 25 million individual and group viewings on YouTube. Translated versions of the Center's videos are now being viewed in China, Ukraine, Tanzania, and India, and are also available to Spanish-speaking communities in the United States and abroad.

The Center provides forensic services and child abuse counseling services to over 1000 children a year at its facility on the campus of Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, California. All of the Center's videos are produced in conjunction with the Joshua Center for Child Sexual Abuse at the University of Washington and Wonder Media, LLC. 

To learn more about the program, please visit: FightChildAbuse.org/

To register for the first virtual event in this series with Aly Raisman, please visit: FightChildAbuse.org/virtualseries

About the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center

Founded in 1986 by Barbara and Frank Sinatra, the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center is dedicated to ensuring every child's right to a normal, healthy and secure childhood. Since its creation, about 23,000 children have received outpatient mental health and counseling services at the Center. The Center provides individual, group, and family therapy and special programs that address issues associated with children suffering the effects of child abuse and neglect. An estimated 700 children are counseled annually on an outpatient basis, and no child is ever turned away because of a family's inability to pay. For more information, visit BarbaraSinatraChildrensCenter.org. The animated video series, funded by the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center Foundation, has reached an estimated 100 million children worldwide and generated over 25 million individual and group viewings on YouTube throughout the United States and abroad.