PENDLETON, Ore.- The George Murdock Eastern Oregon Regional Child Abuse Conference is April 21-24 at Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton.
Members of law enforcement, prosecutors, and child welfare workers are expected to attend the regional training geared towards raising awareness and improving response and advocacy for child abuse victims.
“The ultimate goal of the conference is to create an environment where knowledge is shared, so that everyone in attendance is better able to do a very hard job to the very best of their ability,” said Chief Umatilla County Deputy District Attorney Jaclyn Jenkins.
Origins
The brainchild of Jenkins, the conference, which was started to fill a post-COVID void, is now in its fourth year.
A similar conference in Clackamas, OR, shut down during COVID, and when it hadn’t returned by 2022, Jenkins took action after being approached by law enforcement about the lack of training opportunities when she returned to the District Attorney’s office after a year away with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Portland.
“How could we expect officers to do the best and most up-to-date work, if we were not exposing them to the best and most up-to-date training?” said Jenkins. “It really seemed like an unfair expectation.”
Jenkins first pitched a plan to her boss to hold training for law enforcement and prosecutors in the region, with the expectation that maybe 30 people would attend.
The conference has grown each year, even as the Clackamas training eventually returned with a scaled-down model, and is now a week-long and consists of presentations, activities and workshops geared toward recognizing and preventing child abuse.
“I believe that we will continue with our conference until we feel that the specific niche we have created–providing high quality training that is easily accessible in both price and location to rural law enforcement agencies, specifically in eastern Oregon-is met elsewhere, or until we learn that people are no longer interested in attending,” said Jenkins.
Originally created for law enforcement and prosecutors, the conference is now available to other child abuse multidisciplinary team members and those in child advocacy roles.
According to Jenkins, the conference was opened up to a wider audience as the result of surveys and conversations with attendees over the past three years, who have requested expanded training opportunities for those involved in child welfare work, and is suitable for anyone who works with kids and wants to do a better job of ensuring their safety.
“Our conference, now more than ever, is focused on providing information and training to law enforcement, to prosecutors, and to anyone else who is involved in child protection,” said Jenkins. “That last group includes social workers, forensic evaluators, victim’s advocates, teachers, counselors, and others.”
The 2026 Eastern Oregon Child Abuse Conference
The format of the conference has also evolved over the years, with Jenkins initially hoping to instill as much information in attendees as possible, however, with often heavy topics, such as autopsies, burns, bruises and broken bones, she realized that approach may be too much.
“I realized that an important part of the conference, from my perspective, was to build up the people attending,” said Jenkins. “Working in a field where your primary duties involve surrounding yourself with broken or bruised children can be emotionally draining and heart breaking.”
Now each day of the week-long conference begins with an inspirational message about the work of child abuse prevention, before attendees split into three tracks.
Track A is comprised of sessions primarily directed toward law enforcement, Track B is geared toward prosecutors, and Track C, a new track this year, is suitable for the wider multi-disciplinary team.
While tracks are geared toward specific groups or occupations, attendees are able to move freely throughout the conference and attend tracks that they find interesting or that would be of the most benefit to them.
Sessions at the conference will include Internet Crimes Against Children, (ICAC), grooming, injury recognition, medical neglect, creating safe places for children in court, ethical issues in child welfare cases, trial practice, case law and legislative updates.
Sessions covering working with imperfect victims, utilizing jail calls, protecting your victim during trial, testifying effectively at trial, grooming, interviewing preschool children and disclosures, juvenile sex trafficking, collaborating with the MDT to build stronger cases, psychological and behavioral characteristics of sex offenders, child torture, and burnout, will also be offered.
Jenkins has three smaller goals for the conference, including bringing the best, most engaging professionals to Eastern Oregon to share their knowledge with attendees, to make sessions on mental health available, and that attendees will be able to speak with someone from a different town, county or state at the conference.
“This work is too big, and the offenders are too driven to think that we can only focus on our small towns,” said Jenkins. “We have to think more globally if we are going to make any sort of inroads with combatting the pandemic that I see happening every day, which is people hurting kids.”
Speakers at the conference include prosecutors, child abuse survivors and advocates, psychologists, pediatricians, investigators, law enforcement personnel and more.
Partnerships and Sponsorships
The Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office has partnered with Guardian Care Center in Pendleton to host the Eastern Oregon Child Abuse Conference since it started.
“As a group, their dedication to protecting children is profound,” said Jenkins. “The fact that they have partnered with us in putting on this event is that much more meaningful because of their everyday involvement in child welfare.”
Guardian Care Center helps lessen the trauma of child victims of abuse in Umatilla County through a variety of services, including forensic interviews, medical evaluations, mental health referrals and treatment, and coordination of victim services.
In addition to helping with funding for the event, Guardian Care helps plan the conference and attends throughout the week, helping attendees.
Several regional sponsors, including Good Shepherd Health Care System in Hermiston, help make the conference possible.
“Sponsors, such as Good Shepherd, are vital in our ability to put on the conference,” said Jenkins. “Bluntly speaking, without our generous sponsors, we would not have a conference.”
The financial support of sponsors helps cover fees, travel and lodging for speakers at the conference, as well as overhead expenses, such as the venue, food and educational materials.
“In short, sponsors are what make this conference possible,” said Jenkins. “Less practically, but just as impactfully, I would also say that it is rewarding that businesses in the community, such as Good Shepherd, recognize that a training such as ours has value, and are willing to show their support financially. We are so thankful when people choose to use their financial power to invest in our conference and, really, in kids.
The Eastern Oregon Child Abuse Conference runs April 21-24 at Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton.
