Children’s Trust of South Carolina Joins Opportunity Nation
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Sue Williams, Chief Executive Officer
At Children’s Trust of South Carolina, we focus on prevention because it is easier to stop something from happening in the first place than to repair the damage after it has happened.
Prevention is an affordable and effective investment, especially when used for proven, evidence-based programs. Children’s Trust is a single, statewide resource for prevention in South Carolina, working on the front-end – before abuse, neglect and injury occur.
Children’s Trust is an unique organization, and we have a large umbrella. We are the state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, Partnership for America’s Children and Safe Kids Worldwide. We are the state trustee for our child abuse prevention trust fund, and we administer the Federal Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program and the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention grants for our state. With initiatives such as the Strengthening Families Program, child passenger safety, safe sleep for infants, and Community Support for Young Parents, we are making prevention work throughout South Carolina.
No one wants bad things to happen to children. Everyone wants to keep all of them safe, wrap love and protection around them, and keep them free from abuse, neglect and injuries. Prevention spares the significant expenses and crippling consequences associated with child protective services, the criminal justice system, special education and productivity loss. Prevention spares the incalculable loss of opportunity from severe injury, other adverse childhood experiences or even death.
As the state grantee in South Carolina for KIDS COUNT, we are keenly aware that our children are at greater risk for abuse and neglect as our families face multiple, simultaneous stressors from poverty, including low educational attainment and racial inequalities. However when families have opportunity, those pressures and risks begin to be alleviated.
For these reasons we lead the child well-being conversation South Carolina. We look forward our adding our voice to Opportunity Nation and working collectively towards ensuring a brighter future for all, filled with opportunity and hope.