HAMPTON ROADS, VA – Norfolk-based Cox Auto Trader companies, AutoTrader Publishing, and AutoMart.com, along with Cox Communications, will present a $500,000 grant secured from the James M. Cox Foundation to Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD). The grant will be used to fund the hospital’s new child abuse prevention program, which will provide education and support for children and families throughout the region. The program will be operated from the hospital’s Virginia Beach facility, currently under construction.

The Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters’ child abuse prevention program offers children a safe and nurturing environment where they can begin the healing process in the aftermath of abuse and neglect. The program provides compassionate, diagnostic assessment, and treatment services and seeks to coordinate the efforts of various community agencies working together on behalf of the abused child. CHKD offers an innovative program that honors the abused child’s need for safety, dignity, and privacy.

The $500,000 grant will allow the hospital to fulfill an important mission — combating and preventing child abuse in Hampton Roads. In 2006, there were more than 6,000 reports of child abuse involving more than 9,400 children in Hampton Roads, according to a recent report. Moreover, fatal incidents of child abuse occur at higher rates in Hampton Roads than anywhere else in Virginia.

The grant and collaborative effort to support the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters’ child abuse prevention program also tightly aligns the youth-focused community philosophy of these Cox companies with the specific needs of the Hampton Roads region.