Wake County Child Abuse & Neglect – What are the Warning Signs video

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

We would like to nominate the “Child Abuse & Neglect – What are the Warning Signs” video for a NACo award. This video uses an innovative new software, Vyond, to create a visually attractive and animated message to raise awareness about reporting suspected child abuse and neglect. This video was created by Jamonica Holmes, Kizzy Thomas, and Michelle Whitley (Supervisors at Wake County Child Welfare) in response to a decrease in reports during the COVID-19 pandemic. The video includes recent data on declines in reporting and new legislative requirements. It was designed specifically for our Wake County community partners in the educational and medical fields, but its applicability expands to all fields and regions of the community. As of the beginning of March 2021, it had been viewed over 2,000 times—2,048 from its Vimeo location and 57 from the newly revised Wake County public website. It was also featured on a local news site, The News and Observer (Dec. 22, 2020), and the national Child Welfare Information Gateway listserv (Dec. 23, 2020). We are planning to expand the use of this video to reduce that amount of staff time spent presenting this critical information to the community.