TRENTON,
NEW JERSEY – A Monmouth County program was among
28 recognized for outstanding child abuse prevention programs
by
Human Services Commissioner Gwendolyn
Harris and Paulette Moore Hines, chair of the Child Life Protection
Commission, at a State
House ceremony
on May 20.
Among the 2003-2004 grant recipients of
the Children’s Trust Fund was the Child Abuse Risk Reduction
Program in
Hazlet, developed by
180
Turning Lives Around. It received a second year grant of $38,960 to
teach positive coping skills to children and parents residing
in an emergency
domestic violence
shelter and a longer term transitional housing facility.
Positive parenting skills are developed among
the women through
a series of support
group workshops.
Commissioner Harris thanked
the programs for their dedication to the prevention of child
abuse and neglect. Commenting on the benefit of the
Children's Trust Fund grants, she noted, “I am especially
pleased to see that most of the money for these grants has
come from citizens who generously
checked off the donor box on their New
Jersey tax returns.”
Each year CTF selects innovative programs
structured to prevent child abuse and neglect among high-risk
populations. This year, a majority of
grantees are utilizing widely recognized standard curricula
that have proven to be successful, like Parents As Teachers,
Families and Schools
Together and the Strengthening
Families Model. Most
focus on parent involvement -- a key element for effective
child abuse prevention
programs as
outlined in the New Jersey Prevention Standards.
The Children’s Trust Fund provides funding on a three-year
basis with a step down process in the grant amount. During
the course of three years
, programs
must procure additional funding to meet the original amount
granted in their first year.
The goal is for programs to work towards
independence from CTF funding in order to carry on their program
beyond the first three years. Over the past 16 years, $11.3
million
have been awarded to agencies within every county of the state.
In the 2003-2004 grant year, ten first year programs will
receive a
total of $449,306,
ten second year programs will receive a total of $345,168
and eight third year programs will receive a total of $176,756,
for a total of $971,230.
For more information on The Children’s Trust Fund, go to the
New Jersey State
website at
http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/cap/njcap2.html.
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