Parkersburg, W.Va. (Oct. 19, 2022) – Last month, students in the WVU Parkersburg Criminal Justice Family Violence course had the opportunity to visit the Children’s Listening Place in Parkersburg, W.Va., to learn more about advocacy and support for child victims in the area.

The Children’s Listening Place is a safe, child-friendly environment where child protection, criminal justice and child treatment professionals work together to investigate abuse in Calhoun, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt and Wood counties. The students toured the facility and met with staff, some of who are WVU Parkersburg alumni, and observed a mock forensic interview.

“To me, the experience was really eye-opening as to how they get information from the children,” WVU Parkersburg student Jamie Enoch said. “It was a great learning experience.”

“Hands-on activities like these are common in the Criminal Justice program,” Criminal Justice Program Coordinator Andrew Walker said. “They give our students opportunities to actively apply what they learn in class and build connections to the community and system they plan to work in once they graduate.”

For more information on WVU Parkersburg’s Criminal Justice program, visit wvup.edu/criminal-justice.