May 5 Show: Missy Sikora, Director Yavapai Family Advocacy Center, talks about Preventing Child Abuse in AZ

Brian Sussman talks with Missy Sikora, Director of the Yavapai Family Advocacy Center (YFAC), a facility that works to prevent child abuse in Arizona. Missy is a passionate and committed advocate for children and families!

Child abuse has become a critical problem in Arizona due to social media misuse, human trafficking, street drugs, and lax regulations. As Director of Yavapai Family Advocacy Center, Missy’s mission is to work with local law enforcement and Department of Child Safety (DCS) to reduce trauma to victims by providing a safe and supportive environment and facilitate a team approach to advocacy, investigation and prosecution.

Missy also teaches a course to identify the signs of child abuse and neglect, how to report child abuse in Arizona, and how you can support families so that child abuse and neglect can be prevented. It provides an overview of the significant definitions, requirements and protections of the Arizona’s Mandatory Reporter Law, Arizona State Statute (ARS 13-3620).

You can learn more at Yavapai Family Advocacy Center.

About Missy Sikora

Missy is the Director of the Yavapai Family Advocacy Center (YFAC), a facility which helps child and adult victims of interpersonal violence. Her agency works with local law enforcement and Department of Child Safety (DCS) to reduce trauma to victims by providing a safe and supportive environment and facilitate a team approach to advocacy, investigation and prosecution. In her role as Director, she also serves as the facilitator of the county wide Multi-Disciplinary Team and serves as the county Children’s Justice Coordinator. Prior to becoming the director at YFAC, Missy was a supervisor with the Arizona Department of Child Safety in Prescott, where she worked for 12 years and prior to working for DCS, Missy taught school for 15 years in Phoenix. Missy is on the Yavapai CASA for Kids Foundation board of supervisors and is a past board president. Missy is a member of the Community Coordinated Response Team dedicated to address domestic and family violence in Yavapai County, the Yavapai County Child Fatality Review Team, the Yavapai County Overdose Fatality Review Team, and she co-chairs the Yavapai County Multi-Disciplinary Task Force to respond to Human Trafficking. Missy has a Master’s Degree in Education, a Bachelor’s Degree in Counseling and Human Services and is also a graduate of the Certified Public Management Program from the Bob Ramsey School of Business at Arizona State University.