Family and Children’s Trust Announces Four Champions in Family Violence Prevention and Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Charlé McCauley | Champion for Children – McCauley has dedicated more than a decade to protecting children, strengthening families and improving systems that respond to child abuse. She spent nearly nine years as a forensic interviewer, working directly with more than 1,000 children and families. She later served as education and outreach coordinator and associate director of Valley Children’s Advocacy Center.

Now director of communications for Children’s Advocacy Centers of Virginia, McCauley leads statewide communications, public awareness and legislative advocacy to strengthen Virginia’s response to child abuse. She also has facilitated the National Consortium for Prevention and Outreach for nearly six years and has presented at the International Symposium on Child Abuse and conferences across the country. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University and a master’s degree in communication and advocacy from James Madison University.

Abeer Omer | Champion for Adult Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors – Omer has more than 15 years of nonprofit experience supporting refugees, asylees, immigrants and survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and other crimes. As an immigrant, she brings personal understanding of the cultural, social and systemic barriers newcomers may face. Omer previously served as a Gender Advisor at United Nations Women and as a consultant for the British Council in Sudan.

As a victim advocate with the Safe Journey Program, Omer helps survivors work toward safety, independence and self-sufficiency. She draws inspiration from seeing clients overcome fear and abuse, rebuild their lives and regain control of their futures.

Joani Latimer | Champion for Older Adults – As Virginia’s state long-term care ombudsman, Latimer works with a statewide team to advocate for people receiving long-term care in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and the community. The program helps older adults and people with disabilities understand and exercise their rights, resolve problems and receive quality care while maintaining dignity and quality of life. Latimer has devoted her career to advocating for people who often cannot speak for themselves.

Prior to her work as the long-term care ombudsman, Latimer served as the Director of the Caregivers Resource Center at Senior Center Richmond and in multiple roles at Richmond Memorial Hospital. Latimer was also a co-founder of Friends and Relatives of Nursing Home Residents, a grassroots organization advocating for improved nursing home care and administering a volunteer visitor program. She currently serves on the Health and Human Resources Nursing Home Advisory Panel, the steering committee for Virginia Voice for Nursing Home Residents, and the Supreme Court of Virginia’s Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS). She works collaboratively with residents, families and community partners so every care recipient can access respectful, quality care and look to the future with hope.

Marybeth Matthews-Adkins | Champion for Families – Matthews-Adkins is CEO of Family Crisis Support Services, where she works to protect children and empower families across Southwest Virginia. Her career in human services began after she witnessed the challenges her students faced outside the classroom. She went on to spend 12 years facilitating adoptions with Commonwealth Catholic Charities and later served as a child protective services worker with the Norton City Department of Social Services.

Her commitment to advocacy deepened after her daughter was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, an experience that shaped her understanding of hope and resilience. Matthews-Adkins currently serves as the Chair for the Regional Victims Response Team, the Advisory Board for Sexual and Domestic Violence, and the LENOWISCO Continuum of Care. She has dedicated her career to providing trauma-informed support, safety and healing for vulnerable children and families.

Betty Wade Coyle | Lifetime Achievement Award – Coyle is the executive director emeritus of Prevent Child Abuse Hampton Roads. Coyle continues to serve on numerous boards and committees such as the Virginia Bar Association Commission on the Needs of Children, the FACT Child Abuse and Neglect Committee, and the Advocacy Committee of Families Forward, Virginia’s Prevent Child Abuse affiliate.

She is a past chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect and was a member of the Virginia Family and Children’s Trust (FACT) Board. Coyle has been instrumental to the Hampton Roads area by being a founding member of the Hampton Roads Child Fatality Review Team and the Hampton Roads Trauma Informed Community Network. Coyle continues to train, mentor and support others advocating for children and is an occasional spokesperson on local media and guest columnist for The Virginian-Pilot.