If your child suffers sexual abuse, it is more likely than not that someone your family knows has committed the abuse. A new DVD “No More Silence,” produced by the Great Valley Center in partnership with Merced County Office of Education/Early Care and Education Department, addresses important facts that parents and guardians should know to help protect children from abuse.
The English version of the video is posted to the Great Valley Center website and the Spanish version will be uploaded in the coming weeks.
Local child care providers were the first to view the video on June 5 during a session of the Early Care and Education Training Institute in Merced. GVC secured funding to produce the video as part of a year-long child abuse prevention program funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. GVC also hopes to provide training in some migrant education classrooms in Merced County this summer as part of the program.
“People want to believe that if they keep their kids away from ‘strangers’ that they will not suffer sexual abuse but the sobering fact is that is not true,” said Jami Westervelt, Senior Director of Programs and Operations at Great Valley Center. “It is important that parents know that and that there are resources for help.”
In addition to facts and abuse resources, the video also features vignettes showing parents what actual conversations with children might look like around the sensitive subject. Parents of older children have the option to replay the vignettes and view them with their children as they feel appropriate.
Great Valley Center produced Spanish and English versions of the video, using both female and male actors to portray parents and children. The actors in the example conversations also represent a variety of ethnic backgrounds to enable families to relate to those portrayed in the video.
In planning the collaborative project, GVC met with local agencies including MCOE, Merced County Human Services Agency and Valley Crisis Center to develop program content and all provided video development assistance. The partnership with MCOE was vital to the video, with the staff contributing heavily to the production, including MCOE Caring Kids Program Manager/Behavior Support Specialist Monica Adrian who led script development and narrated the video. The MCOE Merced Educational Television program (METV) produced the video.
The English version of the video is posted to the Great Valley Center website and the Spanish version will be uploaded in the coming weeks.
Local child care providers were the first to view the video on June 5 during a session of the Early Care and Education Training Institute in Merced. GVC secured funding to produce the video as part of a year-long child abuse prevention program funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. GVC also hopes to provide training in some migrant education classrooms in Merced County this summer as part of the program.
“People want to believe that if they keep their kids away from ‘strangers’ that they will not suffer sexual abuse but the sobering fact is that is not true,” said Jami Westervelt, Senior Director of Programs and Operations at Great Valley Center. “It is important that parents know that and that there are resources for help.”
In addition to facts and abuse resources, the video also features vignettes showing parents what actual conversations with children might look like around the sensitive subject. Parents of older children have the option to replay the vignettes and view them with their children as they feel appropriate.
Great Valley Center produced Spanish and English versions of the video, using both female and male actors to portray parents and children. The actors in the example conversations also represent a variety of ethnic backgrounds to enable families to relate to those portrayed in the video.
In planning the collaborative project, GVC met with local agencies including MCOE, Merced County Human Services Agency and Valley Crisis Center to develop program content and all provided video development assistance. The partnership with MCOE was vital to the video, with the staff contributing heavily to the production, including MCOE Caring Kids Program Manager/Behavior Support Specialist Monica Adrian who led script development and narrated the video. The MCOE Merced Educational Television program (METV) produced the video.
