Children’s Trust CEO Sue Williams looks back on the organization’s collaborative work to prevent child abuse and neglect in South Carolina over the past 10 years.
Here we are at the end of a decade and, looking back in reflection, we see it’s been an amazing 10 years at Children’s Trust of South Carolina! Together with our partners across the state, we have served over 33,000 children and their families with home visiting programs and parent education services. That’s a big number reflecting significant work.
First, I want to thank those partners with whom we’ve had the privilege to work. We know that the best prevention happens in partnership, as we work together to ensure families are prepared to help their kids thrive and grow into their full potential.
Program partners, state and federal agencies, foundations, and individual donors have come all together to make this transformative work possible. All of our program grantees have poured their hearts into understanding how to best help the individual families they serve and have made the significant commitment to deliver proven prevention programs with fidelity and rigor.
In addition, from small local trainings to our much larger Building Hope for Children Conference, we have trained and supported professionals to advance innovation in our prevention programs. We have led the South Carolina Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Initiative to understand the long-term health implications of abuse and neglect and built an actionable framework that helps communities develop prevention plans that support their families.
It has been a busy 10 years!
Looking into the next decade, I am very excited about the on-the-ground program work currently being implemented that blends nicely with the new coalitions we also are building within communities across all regions of the state to link families to services and resources.
Our ultimate vision: we want every South Carolina family to be able to get the help they need, both when and where they need it. When they do, children will be safer, and families will be stronger.
I also must recognize our very engaged and supportive board of directors and, especially, the amazing and talented staff at Children’s Trust. It has been a privilege to lead such a wonderful team these past 10 years. Knowing their commitment to building strong families and empowering communities, I am enthusiastic about what the next decade will hold for the children and families of our great state.
Finally, as we enjoy the final few days of this decade, I want to thank you for standing with us in this work, your unwavering support, and your commitment to make South Carolina the best place for children to grow up.
Children’s Trust of South Carolina is the statewide organization focused on the prevention of child abuse and neglect. We provide funding, resources and training to help local program partners build strong families and positive childhoods. The organization is the South Carolina affiliate for Prevent Child Abuse America and the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT project.
