Keeping Alexandra's children safe will be the topic of conversation at a meeting in the town this month.
New Zealand Child Protection Specialists (CPS) will attend a meeting of the Alexandra Council of Social Services on February 18 to discuss relevant child abuse statistics for the area and ascertain ways of improving children's safety in the town.
CPS marketing manager Janine Evans said the organisation would make a presentation at the meeting, aimed at highlighting issues surrounding local child abuse, to as many members of the community as possible.
Mrs Evans said the presentation would be followed by a five-day programme to be held in Alexandra from April 27 to May 1, as well as a one-day workshop at Queenstown on May 4.
"Part of what we do is to raise awareness of child protection in the general community, and we decided to do presentations at community meetings as a stand-alone measure of increasing understanding, as well as to promote the training that follows in the seminars," she said.
February's meeting will mark the first time CPS has come to Alexandra to educate the town's community about child safety.
The organisation annually hosted about 25 of its five-day seminars throughout New Zealand, and it recognised the importance of accessing smaller communities, Mrs Evans said.
"A lot of people think child abuse happens outside their patch. We want people to learn about the Central Otago child abuse statistics, and ways in which those can be improved locally by local people.
"It's about how the public can help reduce risk of child abuse. We find that people want to learn how they can help," she said.
