GAINESVILLE – A state agency charged with protecting children is asking for help from area churches.

Steve Collins with Adults Protecting Children invited clergy members to view the video testimony of a childhood sexual abuse victim and how that abuse became a life-altering event.

Collins then asked those gathered at the Edmondson-Telford Center for Children to join the battle. Collins said his target number of volunteers is 7,000 people in Hall County. It’s at that point, that a tipping point is reached where experts say cultural change becomes possible.

Collins who has been involved in Christian ministry for 45 years said in his experience, churches are reluctant to get involved in this issue and try to address it.

Heather Hayes, Executive Director of the Edmondson, said, “We do the exams of the children that have been sexually abused bout 450 times a year.

“I examine children after the abuse…but I would like to be out of business and not have a job. If all adults really accepted that it’s our responsibility to prevent child abuse and not children’s responsibility…then we can make a

difference.”