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Founding Executive Director and CEO of Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center.
Child advocacy got an unprecedented boost following the high-profile Jerry Sandusky case in 2012. “We were in the epicenter of this storm … that took child sexual abuse out of the shadows,” says Abbie Newman.
Newman’s East Norriton-based Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center has helped over 5,000 children since its inception. She has also helped to unify the various police departments in Montgomery County, along with children’s and youth services, to properly aid victims of child abuse. On a statewide level, she has facilitated the connection of child advocacy centers, whose numbers have more than doubled across Pennsylvania since 2012.
In response to the Sandusky case, Newman was appointed to the state’s Children’s Advocacy Center Advisory Committee by Gov. Tom Corbett. She now works to ensure adequate resources and funding through a grant program. Newman is also turning to international cases in places like Africa and Israel. “I’d really like to see us continue to spread the hope and healing that we’ve been able to give to all victims of child abuse,” she says.
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