The Life Skills Counseling for Recovery from Child Abuse Program https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2011/the-life-skills-counseling-for-recovery-from-child-abuse-program-1 https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

The Life Skills Counseling for Recovery from Child Abuse Program

Additional Information
Used for	The Fentress County Children’s Center is respectfully requesting a gift to partially fund our Life Skills Counseling for Recovery from Child Abuse Program which provides services to help stabilize sexually and physically abused and traumatized children under the age of eighteen in Fentress County, Tennessee. This program helps children deal with their physical and mental abuse and stress and the resulting emotional and behavioral problems. We also serve non-offending family members in order to support and protect the child while preserving the family.
Benefits	As a result of our program, children who have been abused and are at risk for delinquency in future years will cope with their trauma, learn to overcome it, and not become involved in delinquent behavior. They also will have improved self-esteem and coping skills, additional knowledge concerning abuse, and a better understanding of options available to them. In addition, the documented cycle of abusers raising children who become abusers is broken, leading to a safer community for children.
Proposal Description	The Fentress County Children’s Center is a unique organization that is providing critically needed services for children and families. The Fentress County Children’s Center was established in February, 2006 to provide child abuse prevention programs and offer counseling and other services for abused children and their non-offending parents. We are the only licensed mental health counseling service in Fentress County that specializes in services for children. Our mission is to provide a place of comfort and safety for children who have been abused, to equip children and parents with the tools necessary to heal from devastating trauma, and to prevent child abuse in our community. The need for the Children’s Center is apparent as there were 1,200 child abuse cases reported in Fentress County last year and thirty-seven students at York Institute lost a family member because of drug abuse. When drug abuse is rampant, child abuse and other offenses are frequent occurrences. Fentress County is located in one of the most isolated areas of the Appalachian Mountains and it is one of Tennessee’s most underserved counties. It is fifty miles from the closest city, which is Cookeville, Tennessee. Again this year, Fentress County has a low score on the rating scale in the 2011 County Profile Health Rankings (www.tn.gov/tniph), a health report which combines various aspects of population health, including environmental and socioeconomic issues, for each county in the United States of America. Fentress County scored 93 out of 95 Tennessee counties. Lack of education can lead to a lifetime of social and economic problems. In the case of Fentress County, lack of education has left families without the skills to effectively cope with life’s complexities. The people hurt most by this cycle are children, who can do the least about it and who experience all the pain that their families endure. These children live in poverty, and the hopelessness and anger that their parents feel is frequently taken out on them. As a result, children are hungry, depressed, frightened, and unable to concentrate in school, leading to poor academic performance and an increase in the likelihood of their dropping out of school. The Life Skills Counseling for Recovery from Child Abuse Program provides direct services to youth who are victims of child abuse or at risk for delinquency due to environmental concerns. These youth are not involved with illegal drugs or gangs and are not currently judged delinquent. However, their current situation makes them high risk for future delinquent behavior. The requested grant will address the following: support to cope with the trauma or psychosocial distress the children have endured and validation of their experience, and educational programs and Parenting Classes for non-offending parents concerning how trauma affects children and what parents can do to help children recover. The children will receive services at the Fentress County Children’s Center in a child-friendly, non-threatening environment. The program involves collaboration with The Solution Source (for counseling), schools, and other local resources. Our goal is to ensure that these youth do not end up in the Juvenile Justice System. As the result of early intervention, children are less likely to develop emotional or behavioral problems. At the therapy intake meeting, the Fentress County Children’s Center Life Skills Group Facilitator/Counselor acquires information that reflects the child’s background, ethnicity, and culture. Following this, a PLAN is developed for the child and appropriate supplies are used. Forensic interviews and counseling sessions are conducted in a neutral environment so that each child’s background is respected. Predictors of delinquency are identified and reduced. There are four steps involved in the treatment process. They include: evaluation, plan development, skill development, and graduation. Program components include: educating at-risk children with group Life Skills training, screening to determine drug or alcohol treatment needs, and providing educational information to children and their non-offending parents. In addition, non-offending parents will participate in extensive training to increase their understanding of their child’s emotional state and support the child’s recovery. Every effort is made to help the children acquire independence, responsibility, self control, positive decision making, and respect for self and others.