Author: Candy Hattingh

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Online Safety Tips for Parents from NetSmartz

With so many schools starting back online, the folks at NetSmartz have stated that it’s more important than ever that children understand how to be safe and responsible digital citizens and we couldn’t agree more!

They have provided a couple of different options:

If you want your child to be at the helm of their online safety learning PDFs are now fillable for students’ typed responses and suggestions have been made for how to submit artistic and creative assignments to teachers and classmates.  https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/netsmartz/downloadable/using-into-the-cloud-at-home.pdf

For teachers, there are two new presentations, “Teaching Modern Safety with Into the Cloud” now available for grades K-2 and 3-5. Easy to adapt for a real time screencast/webinar style lesson, or to record asynchronous learning!

K-2nd Grade https://go.missingkids.org/e/808593/20Into20the20Cloud-K-2-508-zip/n5zf/42818828?h=_NlU3x7w4lWJja7QJNsBUUbOWFT67XqBPJMCJoSd3E8

3rd-5th Grade https://go.missingkids.org/e/808593/20Into20the20Cloud-3-5-508-zip/n5zh/42818828?h=_NlU3x7w4lWJja7QJNsBUUbOWFT67XqBPJMCJoSd3E8

Parents can’t be monitoring their children online all the time, but there are some great questions to ask if you watch season 1 (~30 minutes) of Into the Cloud with your child, then read about the safety issues addressed in the episodes, and talk through the discussion questions.

For older children and teens, you can download the “Your Photo Fate” Discussion guide and get step-by-step instructions, conversation starters, and advice on how to talk to teens about healthy relationships and sexting. 
Some great tips “Internet Safety at Home” will help with some practical suggestions.

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A sad farewell to our champion Carol Miller Odorizzi

We are saddened by the loss of Carol Miller Odorizzi who was a passionate champion for children in Galveston County, a long time former Board member, volunteer and generous supporter of The Advocacy Center. We grieve her passing, but the legacy she leaves is one that will continue to live on in the work we do. We are so grateful that she chose to spend so much of her love and energy helping the children in our community

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We miss you Weezy

It is with great sadness we want to share that on October 6th 2019, Louise Pound lost her three year battle with cancer. She worked here at the Advocacy Center for over 24 years, fighting for the rights of victims. Galveston County has lost an amazing advocate for the children and families we serve! We  are so grateful that her light shone in our part of the world, we miss you Weezy.71521912_10157383219201142_178837529057820672_n 71894251_10157383219251142_3138013723340308480_n

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You will be missed Nate

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We are so incredibly sad about the news of our very good friend Nate Pacini’s passing. Nate was a champion of the center and the children we serve,. Whenever there was an opportunity to serve, he was there, generous in spirit and humble in nature. Ready to join the fight but not wanting any of the spotlight. He never wanted anyone to know what he gave and it was always from the heart. We love you Nate, we will miss you terribly and never forget you. Our love and thought are with his wife Diana, the rest of his many friends and family. Galveston will never be the same.

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Congregation B’nai Israel Galveston Youth Volunteers

Not all super heroes wear capes! We had the honor of meeting with Rabbi Matt Cohen and Kim and Jody Stein and a remarkable group of young volunteers with the Congregation B’nai Israel of Galveston Island today. These amazing folks chose to give their early Sunday morning to us by cleaning and organizing toys and replacing light bulbs and even fixing ceiling tiles! We are so blessed and grateful that they created a clean and safe environment for the children we serve!

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2019 Capital Day

Carmen, our Executive Director and dedicated board member, Rita Baldwin, had a wonderful time in Austin for CACTX Capitol Day on January 29, serving as advocates in the fight against child abuse alongside other Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas. Pictured here with State Representative District 23, Mayes Middleton. We are honored to be part of something so important!

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Girl Talk with Girl Scout Green Starlettes

On Saturday, our Community Education Coordinator, Candy Hattingh joined forces with The Girl Scout Green Starlettes, Amber Wilhelm with The Resource Crisis Center of Galveston County and Kerri Taylor with UnBound for a Prevention Megathon! The afternoon was incredibly powerful as the girls learned about healthy relationships, dating violence, human trafficking and the tricks that are used on young women, sexting, cyberbullying among a few things! The girls were called to be sentinels and upliftHers and we are excited about doing this again very soon! Thank you Theresa Alexander with The Green Starlettes for initiating this and seeing it through, the girls, Directors and parents participating were absolutely phenomenal!

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Weekly MDT meeting

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Every week we have the privilege of facilitating an incredibly important meeting for the children we serve in Galveston County, known as MDT which stands for MULTI DISCIPLINARY TEAM. This incredible approach means that representatives of CPS, Law Enforcement, UTMB, The District Attorney’s Office, ourselves and other amazing agencies who work with victims can get together and discuss their part in the investigation, examination or interview so that communication is not lost and that the child’s case can move forward. This is an essential part of what we do to help victims of child abuse in our County and we are very grateful to be a part of this!

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