Fall Newsletter 2021
A Letter from the Executive Director As I enter my fourth year as Executive Director of SCAN, it is hard to believe over half of my tenure has been during a global pandemic. It’s been challenging, but challenging times have a way of focusing an organization and unifying a community to make change.
Please join us on this journey to address the devastating social and public health issue of child abuse. Support us as we change the communities we live in. Stand with us as we change the culture and norms of children’s rights. We need you because NOVA’s children need us.
From hard times come innovative solutions. While the word “innovation” is not often paired with “child welfare” and “abuse prevention,” we are working to change this. SCAN is positioning itself on the leading edge of child abuse prevention with our Institutional Abuse Prevention Program and Family Coaching Model. We are narrowing our scope to address and prevent the worst child abuse and to protect children everywhere they are.
Leah Fraley Executive Director
Turning Isolation and Vulnerability into Hope: Our New Family Coaching Program Marisol Morales, Director of Family Programs
Few have suffered more than vulnerable children throughout the pandemic. We’ve seen this firsthand through Family Programs. Family Programs serve families at high risk for abuse. Our families come from all walks of life and are often referred through schools, community organizations, or court mandates. In March 2020, everything changed for our families. Vulnerable children were isolated and the risk for abuse was at an all-time high. In-person classes with parents were no longer possible, and we had to find a new way to reach the families who needed us. We contacted every family we had worked with over the past few years, offering support and resources. Little did we know, the success of this one-on-one contact would develop into our new Family Coaching Model.
Each hour spent with a family is a dosage of prevention, reducing the likelihood that abuse will occur in the home.
In contrast to existing group programming, Family Coaching is tailored to each individual family. Designed with our most vulnerable families in mind, it’s accessible, addresses the unique needs of each family, and has proven highly effective as an intervention for abuse. Each hour spent with a family is a dosage of prevention, reducing the likelihood that abuse will occur in the home. The pandemic challenged us to help when our methods were limited, and we are so proud of the impact of our work. To learn more about our Family Coaching model, visit scanfamilies.org
Q&A Spotlight: Laurie Tasharski | Director, Institutional Abuse Prevention, SCAN Laurie joined SCAN as the Director of Institutional Abuse Prevention, transforming our Professional Development Program into a framework that can address child protection weaknesses within institutions, making them safer for children.
Q: How does Institutional Abuse Prevention (IAP) work? A: IAP addresses every element of abuse prevention. Not only does it make spaces safer for kids, it establishes social norms around boundaries and consent. IAP reduces stigma and shame for victims and survivors, and it supports appropriate response to harm when it happens.
Q: Why is IAP effective? A: This work can make kids safer, almost instantly. Many improvements we suggest can be done at no cost, and without high-level decision making. For example, research shows simply changing report cards and parent meetings to early in the week decreases incidents of physical abuse by 20%. Q: What makes IAP different from current efforts and approaches to preventing child abuse? A: This is the leading edge of abuse prevention. For years child advocates have focused more on preventing neglect and addressing family deficits. The new focus on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma-informed approaches, and protective factors shows how professionals working with children can make significant impacts that reduce harm and promote resilience. Q: How have youth-serving organizations responded to the IAP Program?
Laurie and the new IAP program made headlines across NOVA this September.
A: Honestly? Sometimes with shock. It can be hard for an institution to learn it has gaps in child protection knowledge, or that it may have missed something in the past. What is hopeful is how eager they are to learn more and strengthen their programs and practices.
Fostering Futures, Expanding CASA to 18-21 Year-Olds Hundreds of children aged out of the foster care system in Virginia last year. They were never reunited with their families, never adopted into new families, and are now facing daunting odds as 18-year-old adults.
Virginia ranks 49th out of 50 states for the rate at which children age out of the foster care system. By the age of 21, 40% of foster youth in Virginia will have experienced homelessness, 20% will have been arrested, and 71% of girls who were in foster care will be pregnant. We can do better. We can begin Fostering Futures.
to living wage employment and promoting health— including improving access to mental health services, as well as preventing substance use disorders and unintended pregnancy.”
SCAN is expanding its CASA Program to include Fostering Futures, an initiative serving 18-21 year-olds aging out of foster care. The National CASA/GAL Association shares that volunteers will be “focused on enabling educational success, preparing youth for adulthood, increasing access
Children aging out of foster care should not be abandoned the day they turn 18. SCAN is excited for volunteers to continue serving the youth they have already gotten to know well, and evolving the relationship from oversight into mentorship.
Toast to Hope Update While we miss seeing you in person, our Toast to Hope gala has once again been postponed this fall. We are tentatively rescheduling for the spring, pandemic willing, and look forward to seeing you then!
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Phone: 703.820.9001 | Email: development@scanva.org