Prevent Child Abuse Georgia Creates Online Resources Map For Families

ATLANTA—Prevent Child Abuse Georgia (PCA Georgia) has developed an interactive map of resources available to support Georgia’s families, featuring information about more than 3,000 organizations and agencies that serve children and families across the state, and allowing users to search by location to make it easier to find the resources closest to them.

This tool is an extension of PCA Georgia’s 1-800-CHILDREN (1-800-244-5373) Helpline, which addresses parents’ and caregivers’ concerns and provides local resources.

The Helpline Map is live and available at abuse.publichealth.gsu.edu/resources/helpline. A link to the map is also available on Georgia SHINES, a Web portal used by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services to provide child welfare case managers a comprehensive tool for helping children and families.

“It takes all of us working together along with state and local resources to help children grow,” said Julia Neighbors, director of PCA Georgia. “Families and professionals across Georgia will have an online resource to use when seeking information about supportive organizations and programs near them. We are grateful for our partners across the state who played a role in helping us develop this tool.”

Parents, caregivers and professionals are still encouraged to call the 1-800-CHILDREN Helpline for more complex situations. The Helpline is staffed by trained professionals from Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia and operates Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Specialists are available to provide information about parenting support, community resources, counseling services and referrals for legal needs, and to address many concerns about the well-being of a child or family member, family violence and other child maltreatment prevention issues. The Helpline is not a number to call in crisis or when making a report of child abuse or neglect. The resources from the 1-800-CHILDREN Helpline database are now also available through the online interactive map.

PCA Georgia is housed in the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development at the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. PCA Georgia, a state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, provides statewide direction to prevent child abuse and neglect, promote healthy child development and develop strong families through its prevention network, public awareness, prevention programs and advocacy. It is supported in part by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.