The Prevent Child Abuse Georgia helpline is bringing volunteer and internship opportunities to Georgia State’s campus.
The 1-800 Children helpline opened its doors back up on February 26, 2014. It is currently being housed in the Center for Healthy Development at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health.
Julia Neighbors, Director of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, said that volunteers would take on the tasks of going through resource guides, making phone calls and verifying organizations’ information. Prevent Child Abuse Georgia also offers internships.
“I work with two students right now. One is a School of Public Health student. One is a School of Social Work student,” Neighbors said. “So, basically through graduate research assistantship and field placement with the School of Social Work, I use interns in that way.”
Lia Scott, Masters in Public Health student, is the Graduate Research Assistant for Neighbors. She has been involved with the helpline by researching and entering resources into the Prevent Child Abuse Georgia database.
She said that volunteer aid is being sought after for the helpline.
“We are looking for volunteers who want to do anything helpful for the helpline,” Scott said. “I’m not sure when we will start training volunteers to answer phones, but I think that’s something in the future that they are going to try to do.”
On April 11, 2014, there will be a prevention event held in 25 Park Place from 12-1 PM in consideration of April being the National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The event will screen a film featuring the issue of child maltreatment.
According to Neighbors, the helpline ended when Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, a non-profit organization, closed their doors in 2011. The helpline was relaunched due to a three year grant received from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
