Child safety is about awareness. But it’s also about action.

That’s the message New York City-based attorney and nationally recognized abuse victim advocate James Marsh plans to deliver at the inaugural Great Lakes Child Safety Conference on May 7 at the Traverse City Central High School auditorium.

“We've had really aware parents and engaged parents and mindful parents whose kids have still committed suicide because of extortion,” Marsh tells The Ticker. “So as much as it’s about awareness, it’s a call to action…we need to engage, we need to confront and we need to challenge our policymakers, our legislators, our school districts, our members of Congress, and these big technology companies to do better for our children.”

Marsh is part of a panel that also includes Rachael Denhollander – now an attorney and the first woman to pursue criminal charges against USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar – MSU deputy police chief Chris Rozman and Jenna Baker, director of prevention at the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center. Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg will also speak.

“The speakers list is really a national ‘all-star’ team of experts that will be covering internet safety, campus safety, bullying and abuse prevention and trauma support services for students,” conference co-organizer Scott Hardy tells The Ticker.

Hardy, a TCAPS board member, worked with Traverse City-based attorney Doug Fierberg (himself a prominent advocate for abuse victims) to attract speakers for the conference. Both are glad to bring these resources to the Grand Traverse region.

“To have these topics and this quality of speakers in northern Michigan should not be ignored,” Fierberg tells The Ticker. “It's basically saying we want to be in the 21st century on these issues. We don't want to be playing catch up.”

And while there will be plenty of talk about action, awareness will be a big focus of the conference. You can't act, organizers say, if you don't know. 

“You can't stop this stuff altogether,” Hardy says. “But the more parents know, the more staff know about what the dangers are and how to spot them, the less inclined they are to have the problem.”

“So many of the people that we've represented over the years have come to the firm trying to catch up on how something like this could have happened or how it could have been prevented,” Fierberg adds. “There are so many circumstances that if only someone knew more, they might have avoided a bad situation.”

Hardy and Fierberg say the free conference is open to anyone with an interest in child safety, but they’re also eager for educators to attend.

“There are two things schools need to do: One is to teach and teach well, and the other is to keep kids safe in the environment,” Hardy says. “They've spent a lot of time teaching, but they don't often get access to the kind of experts that Doug is providing who have real suggestions about what the problem is and what the solutions might be.”

The conference could become an annual event.

"We want to see how it's received by the community and what the level of interest is,” Fierberg says. “The topic on protecting children has so many other niches that this could go on for a number of years.”

The conference will be in the auditorium at Central High School from 4-8 p.m. on Thursday, May 7. For more information or to register, email here.