Safe Dating

A message from Denise Koebcke, President & CEO, and Bessie Newkirk, Client and Community Services Manager:

The Amanda Forum was formed in the summer of 2013 in response to the death of a local teen, Amanda Bach, who lost her life to teen dating violence. A project of The Caring Place, which has been funded by the Porter County Women's Impact Fund and Porter County United Way, the Amanda Forum began with an adult task force of professionals across Porter County, Indiana, and a youth task force of high school and college students from Porter County and beyond. Our mission is to raise awareness of youth dating violence and relationship red flags in Porter County through discussion, education, and mentoring, with a focus on developing the protective factors of pro-social relationship skills and resilience. Both male and female teens are affected by dating violence and break-up violence. We reach out to all youth in an attempt to help them avoid this tragedy. We seek to help both boys and girls learn healthy ways to deal with dating relationships and the stress of breaking up. In addition, we provide resources and workshops on developing healthy relationships.

Over the years, we have presented multiple Dare to Date Safe Amanda Forum Conferences serving professionals in the field of youth health, education/guidance, teens across the Northwest Indiana Region and parents/community members. Our conferences have drawn hundreds of participants and have featured nationally-known speakers, Dr. Malcolm Astley, Christina-Marie Santillan, Damien Frierson, and Susan Magestro. The Amanda Forum Task Force, now composed primarily of college-aged students, meets monthly for education, discussion, and planning. Our Task Force hosts a podcasts called No Broken Boundaries and Instagram take overs in order to reach more young people with our prevention and awareness education.