Speaking Up for Children and Families

Children’s Trust was created in 1984 by the S.C. General Assembly “to award grants to private nonprofit organizations and 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.” We operate today as a nonprofit organization governed by a board of directors whom the Governor appoints.

In the 1970s and 1980s, public awareness was growing in the Carolinas and across the nation about vulnerable children and the fragility of many families. We were all learning how best to protect children, and the prevailing thinking was to blame the parents. Children were taken from their families, and the parents were left to figure out how to earn them back.

We have come a long way since then. The brain science of Adverse Childhood Experiences, also known as ACEs, helps us understand the long-lasting damage that toxic stress can cause and how significantly preferable it is to help families before a crisis erupts. We now have the research and teachings of the Protective Factors Framework and Positive Childhood Experiences, giving us the road map for building protection and resiliency for children and their families.

To achieve this, we deploy evidence-based programs and use implementation science to deliver prevention programs and supportive resources through our partnerships.

We no longer vilify parents and instead listen to their voices and experiences, recognizing them as crucial components of the prevention solution. We know many families struggle to meet basic needs, such as having a safe place to live, enough food or reliable transportation to get to a job that pays a living wage. Poverty is one of the most significant stressors for vulnerable families because it is not about whether they love their children. It is about whether they have the resources to meet their daily needs.

Along the way, we all shifted upstream, recognizing that building family well-being is the key to preventing child maltreatment. Reflecting on how much we have learned and how those innovations have transformed the work of prevention is remarkable.

With the Endowment as a partner, Children’s Trust has built our organizational capacity and expertise so that we now work with more than 50 community-based organizations across South Carolina. We ensure those prevention program investments work as intended with training and technical assistance on implementation best practices.

Living the legacy of Mr. Duke, I appreciate that the Endowment uses its voice and influence to make the world a better place for children and families. Mostly, I value that the Endowment has led by example by bringing people together, talking around the table, working side by side and providing valuable resources to solve our communities’ greatest needs.