Children and Sexual-Based Online Harms: A Guide for Professionals
This session will cover research around the risks and vulnerabilities of children accessing the internet, online grooming and exploitation, impacts of children viewing pornography online, what we can do as professionals, parents, and policymakers.
Trainers: Chrissie Young, Director, Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment and Heather Knox, Assistant United States Attorney, U.S Attorney’s Office
Young holds an M.S. in human services administration from Bellevue University in Nebraska and is skilled in program, policy and advocacy and relationship management. Most recently, she served as chief operations officer for the Goosmann Law Firm in Sioux City, Iowa, and is vice president and member of the Siouxland Mental Health Center executive board of directors. In addition, she has served as director and manager of the Avalon Capital Group and the in-home family services supervisor and manager for Boys Town in Sioux City.
Heather Knox is an Assistant United States Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. Ms. Knox prosecutes a wide array of criminal offenses involving the sexual exploitation of children and adults, including crimes involving child pornography and online solicitation of minors. She also prosecutes violent crimes that occur on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Ellsworth Air Force Base, and elsewhere in Western South Dakota, with an emphasis on homicides and sexual assaults of adults and children.
Ms. Knox has been the co-chair of the West River Human Trafficking Task Force since 2021. Ms. Knox is a member of the South Dakota State Bar Association, the Pennington County Bar Association, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, the South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault, and the West River Infant/Child Death Review committee. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Ms. Knox served as a deputy state’s attorney in Pennington County, South Dakota. She has been a state and federal prosecutor since 2013. Ms. Knox received her juris doctorate and undergraduate degree in criminal justice from the University of South Dakota.
