GREENFIELD — Community and nonprofit leaders convened at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments’ offices this week to share an update on advocacy efforts for some of the most vulnerable populations: children and caregivers.

Representatives from children’s advocacy organizations and LifePath highlighted the ongoing initiatives in Franklin County and at the state level seeking to protect children, as well as how to address the ongoing shortage of home health care workers and programs during Thursday’s Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) meeting.

The Children’s Advocacy Center and Enough Abuse, a Boston-based nonprofit working to prevent child abuse, shared the work done in the region to address child sexual abuse, which includes both outreach — such as the new billboard at the corner of Bank Row, Mill Street and Deerfield Street — and a new initiative to work with area schools. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

“[There needs to be] recognition that child sexual abuse is occurring both in homes and in the communities that we live and work in. There’s sometimes events that get press coverage and people ask, ‘How did this happen? Why is this happening? Why didn’t we see this?’” Children’s Advocacy Center of Franklin County and the North Quabbin’s interim Executive Director Beth Agostino-Evans said, emphasizing that these cases are often left unreported because it is such a difficult topic for children to talk about. “People who want to harm children put themselves in positions where they have access to children, hence the need for a regional prevention strategy that holds us all accountable for the well-being and safety of children.”

Jetta Bernier, executive director of Enough Abuse, said her organization has been working with Greenfield’s public schools, the Frontier Regional and Union 38 School districts, and the Mohawk Trail Regional School District to introduce trainings for staff and strengthen school policies to prevent employee sexual misconduct and abuse.

A report commissioned in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Education found that “more than 4.5 million students (10%) are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade.”

“This is not [just] rape. … We’re seeing verbally inappropriate comments, sharing of materials through the internet and texting and all that,” Bernier said. “We think that our best expertise at this moment is to focus on the schools. … The same things that are needed in schools are also needed in youth-service organizations.”

Both the Children’s Advocacy Center and Enough Abuse pointed to bills filed in the Legislature, including H.516, which was filed by Rep. Natalie Blais in February and would establish employee screening requirements in schools. The bill would require districts to contact prospective employees’ references to see if the person was the subject of any substantiated sexual misconduct investigations.

Caregivers and home care

The latter half of the meeting focused on the ongoing health care and home care worker shortage facing Franklin County and western Massachusetts. LifePath Executive Director Gary Yuhas was joined by Director of Client Services Diane Robie to share statistics on how many folks in Massachusetts are caring for someone and the challenges they face.

Robie said there are approximately 780,000 caregivers in the state providing 730 million hours of uncompensated time, with the average caregiver being 49 years old and providing about 24 hours of care per week. These caregivers often face family and mental health stressors, as well as economic struggles, with the average unpaid caregiver spending $7,500 per year on their loved ones.

“Caregivers are doing this work,” Robie said. “They feel alone, they feel invisible and we want to elevate the support we’re able to provide for them.”

Yuhas touted H.3159, supported by Sen. Jo Comerford and the majority of Franklin County’s legislative delegation, which would create an advisory council on family caregiving, respite vouchers for family members, expand eligibility of family members receiving care up to 18 years old and create refundable tax credits for family caregivers.

“This is really for anyone that has reached adult status through the end of their life,” Yuhas said, adding that most people assume care is given to seniors and folks near the end of their lives. “It’s incredibly challenging to be in the role of a family caregiver.”

The full CHIP booklet for 2024 to 2028 can be found at bit.ly/4jhDvUa.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.