NOVA, Bucks County’s crime victim services agency, recently received a $10,000 Bucks Innovation and Improvement Grant (BIIG) from Foundations Community Partnership.
The BIIG grant will be used by NOVA to offer Understanding Child Abuse and Trafficking Indicators in a Clinical Setting, a pilot training program to help health care professionals recognize and identify indicators of potential abuse and trafficking situations and within the pediatric population.
“There is a significant need to support young people who may be vulnerable to sexual exploitation,” said Jamie Pfister, training coordinator, NOVA. “Medical settings provide an opportunity to identify children who may be at risk and offer support services. We are extremely thankful to Foundations Community Partnership for allowing us the opportunity to educate those in the medical community who interface with potential pediatric victims.”
Health care providers play an important role in preventing child abuse and trafficking, but it can be difficult to identify the indicators without proper training. This one-year grant will allow NOVA to train 50-100 health care professionals in Bucks County and will include research and development of the curriculum, as well as dissemination of the content to the health care providers. The plan is to expand this program to all Bucks County hospitals and to have this as a future offering under NOVA’s Training Institute.
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