Mercer County Coalition Available to Educate Community Members About Child Sexual Abuse

Lawrenceville, NJ – November 11, 2013 – During the last few months of 2013, the Greater Mercer Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse will bring its popular “Enough Abuse” Campaign to hundreds of Mercer County residents associated with over a dozen Mercer County organizations.

Led by Lawrenceville nonprofit PEI Kids and focused on educating community members on how to prevent, identify and address child sexual abuse, the Coalition has already educated close to 500 County residents since 2012.  The upcoming workshops will be held at several organizations throughout the Mercer County community.

“The ‘Enough Abuse Campaign’ is an excellent platform for raising awareness about child sexual abuse within Mercer County,” says PEI Kids Executive Director Penny Ettinger. “In order to protect children from sexual abuse, all of us need to acknowledge that children in this community are sexually abused. With this acknowledgement in mind, we then need to become educated on how to prevent, recognize, and address sexual abuse within our community. That awareness and training is what the’ Enough Abuse Campaign’ provides—and it provides it well.”

The Coalition’s efforts are made possible in part through funding from the Princeton Area Community Foundation (PACF) Fund for Women and Girls and Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey (PCA-NJ). The Coalition is seeking additional supporters, as well as adults who are willing to become trained to deliver the workshops.

Through participation in “Enough Abuse Campaign” trainings, Mercer County adults, including educators, parents, pediatricians, and other individuals who work closely with children, are better able to protect children within Mercer County for sexual abuse.

Key organizations and individuals currently on the Greater Mercer Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse include PEI Kids; Camp Fire-NJ; Catholic Charities Trenton-Family Growth Program; East Windsor School District; Mercer County Commission on Abused, Neglected and Missing Children; Mercer County Department of Human Services; Mercer County Office, Division of Child Protection & Permanency, NJ Department of Children and Families; Mercer County, Office of County Prosecutor; Mercer County, Child Advocacy Center, Multidisciplinary Team; WomanSpace, Domestic Violence Services; American Academy of Pediatrics, New Jersey Chapter; Annette Henderson, Princeton Township Police Officer; Ursula Miguel, CNM, Adolescent Medicine Practitioner; The Reverend Daryl L. Armstrong, Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church, Trenton; and Keith Smith, Adult Survivor.

To learn more about the “Enough Abuse Campaign,” please visit www.enoughabuse.org.  To learn how your organization can participate in “Enough Abuse Campaign” trainings or to learn how you can become an “Enough Abuse Campaign” workshop trainers, please call 609-695-3739.

 About PEI Kids

PEI Kids’ aspiration for the children of Mercer County, NJ, is “Safe Kids, Sound Futures.” Currently serving approximately 16,000 children and their families each year, the nonprofit organization began in 1985 when, while working at a rape crisis center, its founders discovered there were no local services tailored for children who had been sexually abused. For the past 28 years, its mission has been dedicated to promoting and maintaining a safe environment for all children. Its services have expanded to include engaging, developmentally appropriate and culturally diverse Prevention/Education and Intervention programs relating to personal safety; physical and sexual abuse; understanding physical and educational differences; school safety and bullying; anger management; gang prevention; and the overall well-being of the child and family. The County Prosecutor’s Office refers 100% of child sexual abuse victims to PEI Kids, and it is currently the lead agency of the Greater Mercer Coalition to Prevent Child Abuse. PEI Kids also provides client services to foster care children and their biological families, supervising more than 1,600 family visits each year and transporting foster children and family members to visitations, and medical and other important appointments. To learn more about PEI Kids’ many programs and services for Mercer County children and families, and how you can support its efforts by volunteering or donating, please call 609-695-3739 or visit www.peikids.org. All calls regarding possible abuse are confidential.