Sen_Katrina-Shealy_state_senate

Children's Trust of South Carolina. Celebrating 40 Years.

Children’s Trust was established in 1984 by the General Assembly to stimulate a broad range of innovative child abuse and neglect prevention programs to meet the critical needs of South Carolina’s children by awarding grants to private nonprofit organizations. On April 23, 1984, with supporters looking on, Governor Richard Riley signed our enabling legislation.

Since then, we have learned much about the science of child abuse prevention, from ACEs to protective factors, and we have put that knowledge to work in South Carolina. We appreciate the credibility we have built, ensuring that we get funding to communities where it will be used as intended and where it will do the most good. During this 40th year of preventing abuse and neglect, we celebrate delivering on our mandate and our prevention investments, past and present, that work to build healthy families and thriving children.

We know that prevention happens in partnership, and we are proud to be standing with so many individuals, organizations, and leaders across South Carolina.

1984

1984_Gov_Riley

Children’s Trust Fund of South Carolina was established by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Richard Riley on April 23, 1984.

S.C. citizens begin donatated to the fund through the Check-Off for Children income tax initiative.


1992

Doctor-using-a-cotton-ball-on-a-little-girls-arm-while-administering-an-injection-in-a-clinic.

Getting its start from the Junior League of Columbia, the Alliance for South Carolina’s Children began advocacy operations, focusing on low childhood immunization rates.


1994-1995

CDC-Kaiser Permanente conduct the original Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study with 17,000 health maintenance organization members.


1996

Governor_David_Beasley

Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) programs were established by Title II of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Amendments of 1996. Governor David Beasley, one of the legislators who introduced our enabling legislation, designated Children’s Trust Fund to administer CBCAP funding in South Carolina.


1998

Prevent Child Abuse South Carolina.

The Council of Child Abuse and Neglect was chartered as the state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America. The organizational name changed to Prevent Child Abuse South Carolina.


2003

Center for the Study of Social Policy introduced the Strengthening FamiliesTM Protective Factors.


2004

2004_Voices_for_South_Carolina's_Children.

Alliance for South Carolina’s Children changed name to Voices for South Carolina’s Children, aligning the organization with Voices for America’s Children to be the statewide voice for children in matters of public policy.


2006

State child advocacy organizations began talks of merging:

  • Voices for South Carolina’s Children
  • Prevent Child Abuse South Carolina
  • Children’s Trust Fund of South Carolina

2008

The Children's Trust of South Carolina.

Three legacy organizations merged, doing business under the name Children’s Trust of South Carolina.

  • Voices for South Carolina’s Children
  • Prevent Child Abuse South Carolina
  • Children’s Trust Fund of South Carolina

Prevent Child Abuse America launches pinwheels for prevention.


2010

Mark Sanford speaking.

Governor Mark Sanford designated Children’s Trust to implement the federal Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting investment.

Children’s Trust adopted first board-approved legislative agenda, working with our partner at the South Carolina Children’s Hospital Collaborative, Chandler’s ATV law was passed.


2011

Pinwheel garden at the university of South Carolina.

Children’s Trust adopted the national Pinwheels for Prevention campaign of Prevent Child Abuse America.

Children’s Trust started the popular Policy Post newsletter.

Children’s Trust convenes first South Carolina Home Visiting Coalition and Home Visiting Summit.

Children’s Trust updated mission, vision and sets ambitious long-term goal to reduce child abuse, neglect and unintentional injuries by 50 percent by 2023.


2012

2012_South_Carolina_Child_Well_Being_County_Profile

Annie E. Casey Foundation named Children’s Trust as the KIDS COUNT partner in South Carolina.


2013

SFP graduation.

In partnership with The Duke Endowment and S.C. Department of Social Services, Children’s Trust started implementing the Strengthening Families Program in 10 communities. Children’s Trust received a competitive grant from S.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Adolescent Health to support pregnant and parenting teens.

Children’s Trust received a competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration to expand home visiting in South Carolina.


2014

Early Childhood Common Agenda-Allison

Children’s Trust convened partners and issued the inaugural Early Childhood Common Agenda.

Children’s Trust began to collect Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) data for South Carolina.


2015

South Carolina county child well being profiles

Children’s Trust published first county-level data profiles for child and family well-being.


2016

2016_ACEs_Summit

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation funded Children’s Trust ACEs South Carolina Initiative.

In partnership with the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services, The Duke Endowment, Blue Meredian, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation, Children’s Trust serves as the fiscal trustee for the state’s first Pay for Success initiative expanding Nurse Family Partnership across South Carolina.


2018

The_Duke_Endowment_President_Rhett_Mabry.

With funding from The Duke Endowment, Children’s Trust began implementing Triple P in Greenville, Georgetown and Spartanburg Counties.


2020

2020_Home_Visit

South Carolina named one of four Thriving Family sites by the U.S. Children’s Bureau.

To respond to the global pandemic, Children’s Trust expanded prevention services from in-person to online delivery and launched scParents.org. The website features the findhelp database where families can connect to free and reduced-cost resources in their communities.


2022

Speaker talking to a individuals at a table.

Children’s Trust launched the Family Support Network to build community capacity and expand services for family-serving organizations also known as family resource centers.


2023

2023_Triple_P_SC_Practitioners_Summit

Children’s Trust expanded its prevention network to be the largest in the organization’s history with 46 funded partners.


2024

Children's Trust of South Carolina. Celebrating 40 Years.

Children’s Trust celebrates its 40th anniversary.