Children's Trust of South Carolina

10/14/2026

At last week's SC Joint Citizens & Legislative Committee on ChildrenJoint Citizens and Legislative Committee on Children public hearing in Rock Hill, Sharon Teague, a recent former board member, testified on behalf of Children’s Trust.

She spoke about the home visiting program in South Carolina and shared its successes and Children's Trust's hopes for expanding its reach.

If you’re not familiar with home visiting, it’s a critical prevention program. Trained professionals meet families where they are, typically in their homes each week, providing education, connecting parents to essential resources and supporting healthy child development from birth through age 5.

Home visitors offer mothers an important layer of support and help families build resilience and break generational cycles. Home visiting helps lay the foundation for children’s health and well-being.

We administer the federal investment in home visiting for South Carolina—the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program—through local partners, using three evidence-based models.

The final stop of the Committee on Children's 2026 Fall public hearings is today at 2 p.m. at the South Carolina State House. We'll see you there!

10/14/2026

📣 Columbia, you're up!

Today marks the final stop of the Committee on Children's 2026 Fall Public Hearings! We're closing out our statewide tour at the South Carolina State House, where we'll hear directly from South Carolinians about the issues affecting children and families across our state.

🕑 2:00 PM
📍 Gressette Building – Room 105

🚪 Important Entrance Information: Due to construction, the Gressette Building's main entrance is temporarily closed. Please enter on the north side of the building, facing the State House. Room 105 is located just inside this entrance.

Check out the attached map to help find your way!

10/14/2026

Family Promise of the Midlands (FPM) helps families facing homelessness. 🤍 Through partnerships with local churches, they provide families with safe, temporary, home-like lodging, meals and essential needs. 🏠 Most importantly, families stay together because in other shelters, they may be separated.

🤝 The FPM staff helps parents get the knowledge and resources they need. They help caregivers with employment, medical care, child care, school placement and ultimately, affordable housing.

💵 They also provide financial assistance to families facing eviction and to students participating in activities such as athletics, music and art.

📍 FPM serves several counties, including Calhoun, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland, Saluda and Sumter.

Connect with Family Promise of the Midlands at bit.ly/4AV4CNy.

10/13/2026

Congratulations to our board member Ramkumar “Ram” Jayagopalan, MD, FAAP, on receiving the 2026 Ray E. Helfer, MD, Award! 🎉

Presented by the Children's Trust Fund Alliance and the American Academy of Pediatrics, this national award recognizes pediatricians who help prevent child abuse.

For more than 20 years, Dr. Ram has cared for children and families in South Carolina, championing trauma-informed care, early intervention and support for families. Through his clinical work, leadership and advocacy, he has helped advance prevention efforts across the state.

We’re grateful for Dr. Ram’s commitment to strengthening families and keeping children safe. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition! 🩵

10/13/2026

Planning is underway for Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month in April 2027, and we want you to be part of it! 😀

Join us virtually on Thursday, Nov. 5, to learn how to engage your community during CAP Month.

We’ll share information about the Community Leadership Grant process, event ideas and ways to raise awareness about child abuse prevention.

Whether you’re new to CAP Month or have participated before, we encourage you to join us.

Register to learn how you can help support children and families in your community: bit.ly/4jpUB4R 🩵

10/12/2026

Stronger families start with strong partnerships 💙

Family-serving organizations from across the state recently gathered in Columbia for the annual S.C. Family Support Network Summit, convened by our team to strengthen connections, share best practices and build capacity to better serve families in their communities.

The summit featured expert-led sessions on federal policy, nonprofit fundraising and board engagement, artificial intelligence, and strategic storytelling—equipping members with practical tools to strengthen their work and sustain support for families.

“The summit is a reminder that we do not do this work alone. Prevention happens through partnership and lasting change happens when we work together,” said Alek Reaves, director of partner and family engagement at Children’s Trust.

As a member of the National Family Support Network, we promote nationally recognized quality standards and a shared vision: ensuring every caregiver, parent and child has access to quality family support services.

Through ongoing collaboration, peer learning and shared expertise, the Family Support Network helps organizations across South Carolina strengthen their impact and build communities where families can thrive.

If you're interested in learning more about family resource centers and the network, join us this Thursday, Oct. 15, from 11 a.m. to noon for our free, online Learning Thursday session!

Our team will share how family resource centers support children and families, highlight statewide partnerships and share how to connect with resources in your community.

Register today! 🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 bit.ly/3TS9SRi

10/08/2026

Members of our home visiting team recently traveled to Washington, DC, to visit the Capitol Hill offices of several members of Congress. 🏛️ They shared the impact and success of home visiting in South Carolina, providing resources and a point of contact ahead of the upcoming reauthorization of the federal home visiting grant.

Children's Trust administers the federal investment in home visiting for South Carolina – the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program – through local partners using three evidence-based models. Without a reauthorization bill passed by Congress, the current five-year federal home visiting grant will expire after September 2027.

Hannah Warner, Children's Trust chief public policy & government relations officer, explained the importance of informing legislators about the impact of home visiting: "The MIECHV grant is structured such that the federal government matches funding based on states' support of home visiting through the state's budget. This is why federal and state legislators must be aware of the transformative impacts of home visiting. The program's success requires shared investment and shared commitment."

Home visiting meets families where they are to help build positive parenting skills, connect families to resources and community support, increase family self-sufficiency and identify gaps in children's achievement of developmental milestones. 🤍

Children's Trust staff pictured from left to right: Eric Bellamy, chief partner engagement officer; Hannah Warner, chief public policy & government relations officer; Molly Huber, home visiting systems coordinator; Cathy Ramage, director of home visiting.

10/06/2026

Check out James A. Griffin's experience as one of our most recent certified Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Building Resilience Trainers! 🎉 As an educator and activist, James is now better equipped to educate his community, provide support and foster resilience in children and families.

The training prepares participants to promote trauma-informed, resilient communities by understanding the impact of childhood experiences and building on community strengths with proven prevention strategies. ⭐️

The program is designed for all child- and family-serving professionals, including educators and school leaders, healthcare professionals, social workers and counselors, community leaders and advocates.

Are you interested in joining James as an ACE trainer? Register for our upcoming Training-of-Trainers program on November 18-19 in Columbia, SC!

📅 When: November 18–19 | ⏰ 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
💵 Fee: $1,500 | 📝 Register by: November 6
🧠 CEUs available

Learn more at bit.ly/4xUhYYp.

10/06/2026

10/05/2026

More than 600 people. Two inspiring days. One shared commitment to building hope for children and families.

The 2026 Building Hope for Children Conference in Columbia, Aug. 19–20, brought together professionals, advocates, policymakers and community leaders from across South Carolina—and we’re still energized by everything we experienced together.

Together, we were reminded that prevention is powerful, partnerships matter, and every one of us has a role to play in creating brighter futures for children and families.

We’ll see you at the next Building Hope for Children Conference in 2028! Dates and location details will be shared as planning gets underway.