COLUMBIA, S.C. – Children’s Trust of South Carolina will be recognized from the floor of the South Carolina Senate upon its 40th anniversary celebration in a resolution sponsored by Sen. Katrina Shealy on April 23 at noon.
Former South Carolina Governor David Beasley will join the Children’s Trust Board of Directors and staff for the reading. As a former member of the S.C. House of Representatives, Beasley was one of the legislators who introduced the organization’s founding statute in 1984. He is expected to give remarks and will be available for comments.
Beasley served as the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme from 2017 to 2023 and accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the organization for its efforts to address the world’s hunger crisis in 2020.
Children’s Trust is a non-profit organization started by state statute in 1984 to award grants to private nonprofit organizations and qualified state agencies to fund a broad range of innovative child abuse and neglect prevention programs to meet the critical needs of South Carolina’s children. The legislation also created a fund for citizens to support this work by donating from their state income taxes.
House of Representative members Beasley, Parker Evatt, and David Wilkins introduced the originating legislation that passed both chambers with solid bipartisan support sending the ratified bill to Governor Dick Riley, which he signed on April 23, 1984.
“We are very grateful for the vision and leadership prioritizing child abuse prevention,” said Sue Williams, CEO of Children’s Trust. “As we deliver on that mandate established 40 years ago, we know that prevention is the bedrock of a better future for South Carolina and her children.”
“When we invest in families, Children will thrive, today, tomorrow and into the future,” continued Williams. “Children grow up happy, healthy and safe when their families have the knowledge, skills and resources to thrive.”
Children’s Trust has grown to administer a wide range of public and private funding to support a vast statewide network of community-based organizations that believe all children should live in secure families and be surrounded by supportive communities.
The organization now funds more than 50 community-based organizations to deliver evidence-based prevention programs, including Healthy Families America, Parents as Teacher, the Strengthening Families Program and the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P). It leads and coordinates home visiting as the federal Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program and the federal Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention grant. The organization also leads the state’s coordinated efforts for family resource centers, KIDS COUNT and Child Abuse Prevention Month, which coincidentally is also in April.
Children’s Trust CEO Sue Williams will be available for interviews.
About Children’s Trust of South Carolina
Children’s Trust is the only statewide organization focused on preventing child abuse and neglect in South Carolina. It leads and supports a network that shares our belief that all children should thrive, live in secure families and be surrounded by supportive communities. Children’s Trust coordinates the state’s efforts for the Strengthening Families Program; Triple P (Positive Parenting Program); S.C. Adverse Childhood Experiences Initiative; Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting; Child Abuse Prevention Month; and KIDS COUNT. For more information, visit scChildren.org.
