2022 IMPACT THE HOME OF Cherokee Family Visitation Center ®
The Children’s Haven promotes the health and happiness of children impacted by abuse and neglect.
Dear Friend,
Putting this impact report together was such a surreal experience this year. The services we were able to offer and the number of children we were able to serve were simply goals and dreams just a few years ago. While it’s heartbreaking that the number of children entering foster care continues to grow, we are blessed and grateful to be able to have the resources to address the growing needs in our community. Because of our community’s support, we served 462 children directly through our programs, and far more than 500 when you consider the kids who accessed our Caregivers’ Closet. Our incredible supporters took our mission beyond county lines, sharing our children’s stories with new audiences. Your passionate support makes this work possible.
We were able to fully develop and launch two new programs in the past year. These two new programs, Prevent Child Abuse Cherokee and the Chin Up mentorship program, focus on efforts to build and support strong families, preventing foster care involvement. These two preventative programs, paired with CASA and the Wellstar Family Visitation Center, really brought our mission full circle. The response to these two new programs, the successes, and the waiting lists for people who want these services have affirmed that these programs were desperately needed in our community. Hundreds of community volunteers poured into the children and families we serve to make significant, lasting, and life-changing impacts this year.
We celebrated adoptions, reunifications, first steps, graduations, and all the little miracles in between. Building happy, healthy children creates strong, caring communities for all of us. When our kids thrive, we all thrive.
Your gift truly makes the difference. Financial accountability is a top priority for our organization. We are proud to share that The Children’s Haven has earned the highest rankings from charity watchdog organizations, GuideStar and Charity Navigator, reflecting our organizational transparency and financial management. We earned recognition as a 2022 Top-Rated Nonprofit from Great Nonprofits. Additionally, we worked diligently to earn the coveted “Accredited Charity” status from the Better Business Bureau, an exclusive honor held by top-performing nonprofits.
Thank you for being a part of our mission to promote the health and happiness of children impacted by abuse and neglect. We have a lot of work to do to make 2023 better for our kids. We believe every child deserves a happy and healthy childhood and the promise of a brighter future.
Sincerely,
Marcie Smith
2022 ANNUAL REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS A MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 3 Message from the Executive Director 4 Leadership & Staff 5 Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) 7 Wellstar Family Visitation Center 8 PCA Cherokee 9 Chin Up Mentoring Program 10 Racing for Kids 11 Holiday Cheer for Kids in Need 12 2022 Event Highlights 14 Financials 15 2022 Recognitions “At her adoption, a child I was working with gave me a picture of herself and on the back she wrote, ‘Thank you for changing my life.’ It says so much about the role of CASA and the need for this role in the lives of foster children whose futures are unwritten.”
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Donna Malone, CASA volunteer
BOARD MEMBERS
ADVISORY BOARD
CASA of Cherokee County trains, empowers, and supports court-appointed community volunteers to advocate for the best interests of children who have experienced abuse and neglect. Our CASAs strive to ensure that every child has a safe, permanent home and the opportunity to succeed. Our CASA program was awarded the 2019 Innovative Program of the Year for the state of Georgia. We’re grateful for the 167 volunteers who advocated for the best interests of 344 kids experiencing foster care this year.
We
envision a community where every child impacted by abuse has the opportunities and supports they need to fully realize their potential, pursue their dreams and become productive members of our community.
Lewis Cline Senior Vice President Synovus
Dana Cox Property Manager Penn Hodge Properties Lori Davis Senior Vice President Community Bank of Pickens County Alexandra Keene Chief Deputy Clerk Cherokee County Clerk of Courts DD Lee Broker/Owner Skyline Properties, Inc.
Francisco Lozano Business Analyst Arylessence
Andrew Smith Attorney at Law Flint, Connolly & Walker Judge Jennifer Davis Cherokee County Juvenile Court
Kristi Estes Co-Owner In Harmony Pediatric Therapy Chris Luly Director of Planning and Zoning City of Ball Ground
Mandi Ballinger Georgia House of Representatives
Brooke Ford Director Division of Family and Children Services Deidre Hollands Program Director Georgia CASA Steve Page CEO ProntoTrak
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Buster Cushing Board Chair Chief of Police Cherokee County School District
Rob Logan Past Chair City Manager City of Holly Springs
Tommy Pinyan Vice Chair Chief Deputy of Police Cherokee Sheriff’s Office
Gary Sullenger Secretary Retired University Administrator Janet
Read
Welch Treasurer Community Development Officer Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
THE
Marcie Smith Executive Director The Children’s Haven
CHILDREN’S HAVEN STAFF
Director
Julie
Advocacy
CASA
Mandy
Advocacy
CASA
Marcie Smith Executive Director Daphne Mullen Office Manager Michelle Meek
of Community Engagement
Carter
Director,
Cherokee
Quigley
Coordinator,
Cherokee Christine Clark Advocacy Coordinator, CASA Cherokee Caroline
Shelton Advocacy Coordinator, CASA Cherokee Christina Fisher Visitation Director, Wellstar Family Visitation Center Kathy Crites
Family Support Specialist, Wellstar Family Visitation Center Trisha Stiles Family Support Specialist, Wellstar Family Visitation Center
Navada Stucking Family Support Specialist, Wellstar Visitation Center
344 Children
(208
9,900 hours of
6 bilingual CASAs
12 new
738 court hearings, panels,
50,651 miles driven
8 CASAs have served with us for over 10 years 167 active CASAs serve with The Children’s Haven CASA BY the NUMBERS
Lindsay Pena Program Manager, Prevent Child Abuse Cherokee Sharise Hackney Family Care Coordinator, Prevent Child Abuse Cherokee June Long Program Coordinator, Chin Up
served
cases)s
volunteer service given by our CASAss
s
CASA volunteer advocates trained this year
DFCS staffings held
by our CASA volunteers
Welcome to our new CASA volunteers!
Michelle Meek celebrated 8 years of service with the CASA program before transitioning to her new role as Director of Community Engagement.
Fun at our annual Volunteer Appreciation Event
4 | 2022 CHILDREN’S HAVEN IMPACT cherokeechildrenshaven.org | 5 30 CASAs
Staff members and volunteers attended the Georgia CASA conference in Atlanta.
have served with us for over 5 years PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT FY23 Board Officers elected in June: Gary Sullenger, Tommy Pinyan, Buster Cushing and Guillermo Sanabia
2022 CASA
VOLUNTEERS
Addie
Barbara
Gene
Nancy
Amanda
Linda
A family served by our CASA program celebrated their reunification after foster care by going on a shopping spree at Learning Express Toys in Woodstock. The shopping spree was generously made possible by a partnership between the store and Georgia Academy Club.
Baseball players and their families held a fundraiser to raise more than $7,000 for our programs!
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
VISITATION BY the NUMBERS
Family Visitation Center
The Wellstar Family Visitation Center offers a safe, comfortable, home-like environment for children placed in foster care to visit with their parents, siblings, and extended family while they are not living together. The Wellstar Family Visitation Center is the 2020 recipient of the Hedi Levenback Supervised Visitation Provider of the Year award, a prestigious honor presented by Supervised Visitation Network. This award recognizes our program for providing the highest level of supervised visitation services in order to support, nurture and guide families. The Visitation Center held more than 1,200 safe family visits during 2022, operating at 90-100% capacity, seven days a week. Several families separated by foster care and served by the program were successfully reunified this year!
Staff and Board Members hosted an open house of the visitation center for Supervised Visitation Awareness Month in May.
The Visitation team attended the National Supervised Visitation Network Conference in Orlando.
Team members from Arylessence organized a holiday Giving Tree to provide gifts for our Visitation families.
The Visitation program utilizes the Nurturing Parenting curriculum to teach empathy and encourage positive parenting.
Adams
Arcangelo
Austin
Avillar
Bach
Ballard
Barfield
Barrett
Black
Blevins
Judy
Ginny
Cindy
Mark
Shawn
Bob
Sue
Holly
Kelly
Heather
Bowen
Brannon
Brooker
Brooker
Claire
Carl
Jennifer
Cade
Cannarella
Angela
Carraway
Castle
Cecil
Choppa
Clark
Cleveland
Costa
Costa
Coughlin
Diane
Bill
Beth
Michelle
Frank
Jeff
Kim
Marilee
Davis
Deeb
DiMattesa
Downs
Downs
Phyllis
Kelly
Lori
Nick
Etheridge
Ezrine
Fabricius
Farist
Galindez
Gammon
Gentry
Gilleland
Gosdin
Grady
Greisman
Grizzle
Haigwood
Hamilton
Happe
Harrison
Hartsfield-Briscoe
Harvey
Hill
Greer
Scott
Debra
Gladys
Crystal
Angela
Hannah
Karen
Judy
Karen
Sean
Lori
Katie
Lisa
Jeanie
Linda
Judy
Catherine
Karr
Kasha
Katz
Jo Lane
Latoza
Lefebvre Van Zilen
Leonard
Lewis
Logsdon
Long
Lowry
MacGregor
Mahoney
Malone
Manke
Martin
Mattern
McRee
M’Latamou
Moore
Moore
Sandy
Hogan Sandra Hordos Katie Huff Lynn Johnson Floyd Jones Sharon Jordan Cheryl
Dawn
Linda
Kelli
Janice
Renee
Pat
Morgan
Anna
June
Stephanie
Jill
Suzanne
Donna
Deirdre
Sandy
Lucia
Barb
Janet Merkel Mary Minicucci Loretta
Beth
Bob Mullinax
Orozco
Picart
Prance
Rabjohn
Rasberry
Reddy
Redman Macie
Redovian
Reece Churchwell
Richard
Rodriguez
Saltz
Sargent
Schmid
Shackleford
Shelton
Sibley
Slump
Paul Mullins Vinnie O’Connor Maggie
Melissa Pagan Primrose
Michele
Debbie
Jeffrey
Jim
Carol
Christy
Beverly
Barb
Kathleen
David
Lori
Lisa
Lori
Heather
Penny
John
Debra Smith Linda Smith Michele Smith Robin Smith Tami Smith
Robin Snider Rhonda Speck Holli Spell Deborah Sprayberry
Lauren Stallings
Lorraine Stallings Barbara Stell
Trisha Stiles
Paul Stombaugh Jennifer Stowell
Caprice Strickland Lorraine Thompson Karen Tilghman Nina Torrence Janet Trippett Jenni Vereen Michelle Von Trott Wendy Wagner Ellen Ward Sandra Ward Randy Watson Sara Whitaker Sherry Wiedman Jeff Wilbur
Stefanie Williams Polly Yaguchi Mary Zamorski OUR
swore in 12 new CASA volunteers in 2022.
We
71 children served through supervised visitation 101 parents served through supervised visitation 1,368 hours of parent coaching 268 hours of life skills coaching 1,200 supervised family visits
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New York Times #1 Best Selling Author, Laura Schroff, of “An Invisible Thread” virtually joined our CASA Book Club discussion.
Juvenile Court Judge Rick Jones swears in new CASA volunteers.
Advocacy Coordinator Christine Clark, Advocacy Coordinator Caroline Shelton, Advocacy Coordinator Mandy Quigley and Advocacy Director Julie Carter.
CASA volunteers and Juvenile Court Judge Jennifer Davis and Judge Rick Jones at our annual Volunteer Appreciation event.
Georgia Academy Baseball Club donated Boston butts and students from Reinhardt University donated canned and boxed food items to provide Thanksgiving meals to the families we serve.
Our team joined staff and Board members from the Division of Family and Children Services and the Anna Crawford Children’s Center to place pinwheels across the county for Child Abuse Awareness Month.
BY the
chin up _8
Site-Based Mentorship. Life-Changing Relationships.
CHIN UP BY the NUMBERS
student participants
trained mentors
Piedmont Church donated laundry detergent to benefit parents in our in-home parent support program.
Staff members from The Children’s Haven joined Board Chair Buster Cushing on Wear Blue Day to raise awareness for child abuse prevention.
Mentees and mentors learned to make spaghetti. Mentees were able to take home their own skillets, utensils, and ingredients after class.
Mentees and mentors learned to use tools and built their own tool boxes.
“ “
My daughter never smiles, but she’s always smiling when she leaves Chin Up. This program is working and it’s making a difference.
– a mom of a mentee
Our mentors and mentees have developed really special bonds this year.
Our mentees use art as a creative outlet at some point during almost every connection class.
cherokeechildrenshaven.org | 9 8 | 2022 CHILDREN’S HAVEN IMPACT
PCA
17 homes/families served 18
5
13
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT 51 children served 20 parents served (14 single, 3 married couples) 267 number of home visits 47% Spanish speaking families 100% of families were stably housed and employed after at least six months in the program 94% had consistent income/jobs 100% improvement shown from pre-test to post-test for EVERY parent
NUMBERS
students successfully completed their courtordered program participation and opted to stay in the Chin Up program on their own. MAJORITY of the mentees in the progam showed improvement in either school attendance, behavior, communication, and/or social skills.
PCA Cherokee exists to increase public awareness and implementation of programs and practices that prevent child abuse and neglect by developing trainings, educating our community, and connecting families to needed resources. We offer in-home parenting support in English and Spanish with the goal of keeping families safely together, preventing unnecessary foster care involvement. Families participating in the program received weekly in-home visits complete with parent education, life skills education, resources and referrals, and case management.
Chin Up is a site-based mentorship program designed to foster life-changing relationships through life skills classes and intentional interactions. The mentees and mentors meet once a month, share a meal and engage in educational, as well as empowering, activities taught by community professionals. Through the on-site connections, the participants often communicate outside of the monthly meeting, having built relationships on trust and support. Mentors are caring community members who are willing to train and devote their time and guidance to a teen in need.
RACING FOR KIDS
Critical Path Security and The Children’s Haven partnered with Ryan Vargas at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval to raise awareness for Cyber Security Awareness month and to raise money to help fund our mission. Critical Path Security sponsored Ryan’s car, generously and intentionally using this platform to advocate for the kids that we serve! It was incredible to see The Children’s Haven logo on Ryan’s car at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 8. Ryan is using his platform to help raise funds for our programs that support children in foster care. What an incredible gift with potential to make a huge impact!
HOLIDAY CHEER FOR KIDS IN NEED
This year The Children’s Haven was thrilled to be chosen as a featured nonprofit for the Light the World Mobile Giving Machine. This unique giving experience worked just like a vending machine. When visitors swiped their credit card, they chose a special gift for a featured nonprofit. Gifts chosen specifically for the children we serve included board games, basketballs and dress-up costumes. Prices for these items ranged from $15-25. The Giving Machine traveled to five cities across the southeast: St. Augustine, Birmingham, Atlanta, Charlotte and Charleston. We were grateful to be a part of this unique giving experience.
Team Members from Critical Path Security and The Children’s Haven posed with NASCAR driver Ryan Vargas after the race.
See Critical Path Security
more about the
Founder and CEO Patrick Kelley share the big news with Executive Director Marcie Smith.
Learn
Light the World Mobile Giving Machine and how The Children’s Haven is involved here.
10 2022 CHILDREN’S HAVEN IMPACT cherokeechildrenshaven.org 11
Check out the video message from NASCAR driver Ryan Vargas.
2022 EVENT HIGHLIGHTS We believe that every child should have the opportunity to thrive in a safe and permanent family. Our Challenge: to find the volunteers, resources, commitment & passion that will get us there. Thank you to everyone who supported our mission to make our work possible this year! JEEP RUN FUNDRAISER 80s PROM FUNDRAISER SCARECROWS FOR KIDS FUNDRAISER COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS, SPONSORS & DONORS COMMUNITY EVENTS COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS cherokeechildrenshaven.org 13 12 2022 CHILDREN’S HAVEN IMPACT We had 200 Jeeps participate in our first Jeep Run event! They drove through snow, hills, and streams to support our kids! We danced the night away at our first Adult Prom event. Congratulations to our Prom Queen Barbara Nye and Prom King Guy Bianchi for being the couple to raise the most funds and votes! Our annual sCAREcrows for Kids event raised more than $23,000! Thanks to our partner, The Mill on Etowah, for generously providing the space for this fun event. Thank you to all of our sCAREcrows and voters! Multicultural Fest in Canton GA CASA network in Woodstock Bargain Hunter Coat Drive 2022 Stakeholders
Luncheon
RECOGNITIONS
We are thrilled to share that The Children’s Haven has earned Accredited Charity status with the Better Business Bureau. BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB’s Give.org) is a standards-based charity evaluator that seeks to verify the trustworthiness of publicly-soliciting charities by completing rigorous evaluations based on 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability. BBB Standards for Charity Accountability address four areas of charity accountability: governance, results reporting, finances, and truthful transparent communications.
After a thorough review lasting several months, we are so proud to have officially earned this coveted accreditation! The Children’s Haven joins a small, select group of Georgia-based nonprofits who are recognized as a BBB Accredited Charity.
THE CHILDREN’S HAVEN HAS ALSO RECEIVED THESE PRESTIGIOUS DISTINCTIONS The Rotary Club of Canton, along with
Members
the
presented our
members with the
Service Award for exemplary volunteer service in our community. Executive Director
and Board Member Andy Smith were each recognized as a Top 10 in 10 Young Professionals to Watch by the Cherokee Chamber of Commerce and Enjoy Cherokee Magazine.
® FINANCIALS 60% 9% 14% 9% 8% Local Community Support Federal Funding State Funding Fundraising Events Foundation Grants 90 CENTS OF EVERY DOLLAR GOES DIRECTLY TO PROGRAM SERVICES 8 cents goes toward administration and 2 cents goes toward fundraising efforts Total Income: $888,388 Program expenses: $531,711 Fundraising expenses: $14,615 Administrative expenses: $44,810 Total expenses: $591,136 Ending Net Assets: $970,859 Thanks to a one-time grant from Promoting Safe and Stable Families, we were able to disperse federal Covid-relief funds to families in need. We provided $19,000 in emergency assistance funds to pay for rent, pay utility bills, provide transportation to employment, purchase groceries, purchase bedding, and support educational needs for families we serve. 14 | 2022 CHILDREN’S HAVEN IMPACT Total Impact of The Children’s Haven in 2022: – 462 kids served – 121 parents served cherokeechildrenshaven.org 15
The Children’s Haven Board
from
Rotary Club of Towne Lake,
staff
Lamar Haley Community
Marcie Smith
give.org
Learn More: CherokeeChildrensHaven.Org
THE HOME OF Cherokee Family Visitation Center ®