Located at the Marilyn Kapner Levin Center for
Children's Advocacy and Child Abuse Prevention
Children's Advocacy and Child Abuse Prevention
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Participate in the nationally recognized Stewards of Children course and become empowered to fight the epidemic of child sexual abuse.
Participate in the nationally recognized Stewards of Children course and become empowered to fight the epidemic of child sexual abuse.
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Read MoreThank you to everyone that was able to attend our Pancakes with Santa event on Saturday! Trista Blouin, our trusty professional photographer, took some wonderful shots! Download yours here: http://www.gulfcoastkidshouse.org/event/
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Angela Baroco Eddy of Pensacola is the new child abuse prevention coordinator at the Gulf Coast Kid's House in Pensacola.
The Gulf Coast Kid's House is an advocacy center that was established in 2004. Its purpose is to facilitate the investigation, prosecution and treatment of child abuse and neglect, and promote prevention through education.
Eddy is a former senior account representative with Sonitrol of Northwest Florida and its sister company, Redwire. She also used to teach middle school English and literacy in Pensacola and Orlando.
Eddy, 40, will split her time working at the Kid's House and as a recruiter for IMS Expert Services, a witness search firm in Pensacola.
QUESTION: Why did you decide to accept the challenge of dealing with such a difficult subject?
ANSWER: Because I think I can make a difference. I think that it's very important to be involved in something that you are passionate about, and I am definitely passionate about protecting children and helping children lead the best lives possible. I think this opportunity gives me the chance to be one of the very few lucky people who can say that their job does make a difference every day.
Q: Do you have experience dealing with child abuse or child abuse prevention?
A: I was formerly a middle school English teacher, so I don't have specific experience with child abuse. I have worked with several boards in the local community, one of which is the Child Guardians board, which is the nonprofit board with the guardian ad litem program. That is a program that deals directly with abused and neglected children. I was more working with recruiting volunteers to try to assist with the cases that were in the court system already, so I have some familiarity with it but no direct experience.
Q: How will you carry out your responsibilities as child abuse prevention coordinator at the Kid's House?
A: At Gulf Coast Kid's House, we are very fortunate to have a lot of resources in the building. We have the Department of Children and Families, Department of Health, Lutheran Services Florida, the State Attorney's Office and law enforcement. Using those resources really will help me to try to spread the word, try to let people know the services that we provide once the abuse has happened but also using those resources to try to get out into the community in some of the areas that I think are most needing some education, awareness and things like that to help prevent it.
Q: What ideas would you like to implement?
A: (I would like to develop) something with the middle school and high school age students. I am going to be working to develop some things with that, working with some volunteer groups and some teen volunteer groups, hopefully, in the area and maybe have some teen facilitators.
Q: What has been the most interesting case that you have worked on at IMS?
A: Simply Orange is owned by the Coca-Cola Co. That big green cap that is on their bottles is patented. Tropicana, which is owned by Pepsi, came out with a new juice product called Trop50, and they were packaging it in a very similar carafe-style bottle with the big green cap. Coca-Cola and Simply Orange sued them for patent infringement and claimed that consumers would just see the big green cap and think that it was one of the Simply Orange products, when in fact it was quite different. They needed an expert to discuss the similarities in the design and manufacturing and the overall look of that bottle cap. I ended up talking to someone who had worked in packaging with Ocean Spray for more than 30 years. He knew everything there was to know about bottle caps and design and placement on shelves and why consumers would be confused looking at the two very similar products. Coca-Cola ended up winning the case. Tropicana changed their caps, so now they are red and orange, and they are not made the same way.
Release Date: Sunday, March 18, 2012