Department of Human Services

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY – Four Ocean County programs were 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 Talking About Touching program, developed by Kimball Medical Center for Kids & Family of Lakewood. It received a first year grant of $28,070 to prevent child sexual abuse. Talking About Touching will address the subject of sexual abuse within a frame work of personal safety rules rather than sexuality, with children ages 4-6.

Operation: Handhold of the Lakewood Community Services Corporation received $39,880 for its second year. This program works with at-risk families with disabled children or parents. A licensed social worker provides families with case management, coordinates home visit sand helps with accessing community and governmental resources. Through community outreach the program also promotes awareness an dearly detection of disabilities, as well as the special needs of this population.

The Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Council of Ocean received $9,284 for its third year of running the Strengthening the Family program. The program works with homeless single parent families in Lakewood, NJ. Utilizing the Strengthening the Family curriculum, the program helps families to decrease risk factors and increase protective factors such as teaching parenting skills and appropriate discipline method. It also shows parents how to give positive attention to their children.

The Helping Hands program developed by the Epilepsy Foundation of NJ received $29,755 for their third year. In this program older adults receive training to provide support for families with children with special needs. These volunteers expand the network of support families need in order to reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect. Included in the program are parent training, resources and respite opportunities.

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 funding amount. During the course of three years, programs must procure additional funding to meet the amount of their first year grant, with the goal of working toward independence from CTF funding in order to carry on their program beyond 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 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.