TIFTON — The Alliance for Children hosted its second regional summit Thursday, Apr. 4 at Northside Baptist Church in Tifton.

The summit brought together representatives of various agencies and organizations from across the region that deal with child abuse.

Law enforcement from all over the region was in attendance, as were social workers, guidance counselors, judges, church staff, teachers and attorneys.

Attendees were able to attend several breakout sessions hosted by experts in different areas.

The panels discussed all different aspects of dealing with child abuse, from human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, prosecution of child abuse cases, child abuse medical exams, how witnessing domestic violence affects children, helping children deal with and heal from trauma and evaluating children medically after an incident of abuse.

Nancy Bryan, executive director for Ruth’s Cottage and The Patticake House, said that the summit went very well.

“We had 175 register and around 160 were able to attend, which is normal,” she said.

She said that one of the highlights of the summit was Talamantez’s presentation about social media predators.

“That was real eye-opening for people,” she said.

Bryan said that the summit organizers have gotten back positive comments, suggestions for topics and ways to make next year’s summit better.

“The idea is education, education, education,” Bryan said. “That’s what we tried to do.”

The plenary speakers for the summit were Collins Tuohy, the sister of Michael Oher of the movie “The Blind Side,” Judge James Bodiford from Cobb County and Lt. Eusebio Talamantez from the Panama City Police Department

Presenters included Cliff Tippins from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Andy Kogerma from the Department of Family and Children’s Services, Lalaine Briones from Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia, child abuse pediatrician Dr. Stephen Messner, Michelle White from the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Alexia Tanner from Wholistic Therapeudic Services, Judge Render Heard from the Tifton Juvenile Court, Lafayette E. Young from Georgia CASA, Human Trafficking Planning and Policy Development Specialist Amy Hutsell, Jerry Bruce from the Georgia Supreme Court Committee on Justice for Children, Dr. Abhinav Saxena from Tift Regional Health System, Bikers Against Child Abuse Georgia State President Michael “Bugsy” Page, Anne Kohutko from Behavioral Health Services of South Georgia and Michael Norman from the Tift County School System.