Officials in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will be hosting a virtual community discussion on child abuse prevention April 20.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva will be joined by other officials to discuss child abuse prevention with the community during a virtual event as April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Along with Villanueva will be LASD Capt. Michael Hannemann, Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, Karen Imagawa, chief of staff at L.A. Children’s Hospital, and Patricia Wenskunas from Crime Stoppers.

The discussion will include ways to spot child abuse and how to prevent it from occurring, as well as resources available through the county and Sheriff’s Department.

According to data retrieved from the National Children’s Alliance, an estimated 678,000 children experienced some type of abuse or neglect in 2018.

April was named Child Abuse Prevention Month by the United States Department of Health and Human Services in 1983 in order to raise awareness, and has continued to be recognized by several organizations since.

The discussion will be held virtually on Cisco Webex April 20 from 1 to 3 p.m. Registration will be required for the event and can be made at https://bit.ly/39OtNqe.