EARLY YEARS: Children’s Trust of Roanoke Valley to host “Save Jane” event on October 7

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - “Save Jane was implemented in 2019 in Dallas, Texas with the children’s advocacy center there, and it took them two days to read all the names of reported child abuse victims in that area,” says Christina Hatch Ballard, Executive Director of Children’s Trust of Roanoke Valley.

Child abuse is also prevalent in our hometowns. That’s why Children’s Trust of Roanoke Valley is hosting its own Save Jane event.

It’s happening Thursday, October 7 at the Historic Roanoke City Market starting at 8:00 a.m.

During the event, volunteers and staff with Children’s Trust will read the names of the 15,277 reported child abuse victims in the jurisdictions the organization served last year.

Officials estimate it will take more than 16 hours to read all the names, and they need volunteers.

“What we do to represent and honor these victims of child abuse is we read the name “Jane Doe” age 10, Roanoke City. So, what we’re doing is reading the name, age and jurisdiction they’re from,” says Ballard.

Naming the children as Jane or John Doe is an effort to protect their identities, while still raising awareness.

“People don’t like to talk about child abuse. It’s hard to talk about. It’s a very hard subject to talk about. People don’t want to think about that topic, that children are being abused,” says Ballard.

Ballard says the pandemic has only increased the frequency of child abuse, largely due to extra stress on already fragile families.

Making it safe to talk about the difficult issue can bring help and healing.

“We also want the community to understand the prevalence of child abuse in our communities, become aware and maybe start talking about it more. And if they see something, say something.”

Here’s the link, in case you’d like to sign up to help read the names of child abuse victims at the Save Jane event in Roanoke.

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