Thurston County Board of Health proclaims April 2025 National Child Abuse Prevention Month; prosecutors, pediatrician outline caseloads and supports

The Thurston County Board of Health on April 8 adopted a proclamation designating April 2025 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month and heard presentations from the county prosecutor’s special victims team and a pediatrician about trends, resources and how the community can help.

The proclamation, read during the meeting, cites county child-protection referrals in 2022 and urges residents to participate in prevention programs and supports. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jessica Shen and Christie Peters, chief of staff to the county prosecutor, briefed the board on the office’s recent caseload and on how multidisciplinary teams support child victims.

Jessica Shen, deputy prosecuting attorney on the special victims team, said the office received 244 special-victims referrals in the most recent reporting year and charged 89 cases; she said the office received 218 referrals the prior year and charged 85. “We had 244 received cases…we charged 89 this year,” Shen said. She described trials in which forensic interviewers, medical evaluators and a courthouse support dog named Skye assisted child witnesses.

Dr. Joyce Gilbert, medical director of the Providence Abuse Intervention Center, told the board the center serves five counties and sees roughly 350 to 400 children a year. “Kids are in bad situations in our county and we need to give services to these kids,” Dr. Gilbert said, adding that survivors often need ongoing therapy and school-based supports for many years.

Board members and presenters emphasized that most hands-on abuse involves people known to the child, while technology and social media can increase access for some offenders. Shen said trafficking-related child cases are rare in Thurston County and that trafficking investigations typically require substantial coordinated resources such as stings.

The board adopted the proclamation calling on residents and organizations to participate in prevention activities; the proclamation text referenced the Public Records Act chapter 42.56 RCW in the meeting materials and listed April 27 as a local “Go Blue Day” for awareness-raising.

The board also received brief updates on subcommittees and county data work during the meeting and directed staff to follow up after a brief executive session on a personnel matter.

Votes at a glance: the board approved the meeting agenda, approved the March 11, 2025 meeting minutes, adopted the April 2025 National Child Abuse Prevention Month proclamation and later moved to adjourn. Motions to approve the agenda and to adjourn identified movers and seconds on the record; the proclamation was adopted as read and marked “adopted this April 2025” in the meeting record (no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript).