Success Stories
I am about to adopt Brian, a happy, healthy four-year old boy the doctors said would probably never see his first birthday. He was born prematurely into a life of chaos, and weighed barely three pounds at birth. His birth mother was struggling with mental illness, addiction, and life in poverty. Brian suffered the consequences, and was designated a “Failure to Thrive” for his first seven months. The prospects for his life were grim, if he even survived.
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Newsletters and Reports
The Work of A Child’s Haven
Healthy, resilient children are the future of our community. But in Greenville, nearly 20,000 of our children live in poverty, struggling to survive through no fault of their own. Nearly 8,000 are suffering in their most vulnerable years, under the age of six.
The relentless stress of poverty is very difficult for families, and many parents have no role models, support or education in the basics of parenting. As a result, the children are at high risk for developmental delays, neglect and abuse. In fact, nearly 500 of Greenville’s children under age six are confirmed victims of neglect or abuse in any given year.
Recent medical research has shown that children’s developing brains can be damaged by this kind of stress, especially before age six. Without aggressive intervention, this damage can become permanent, and lead to a lifetime of suffering that affects us all- through substance abuse, poor school performance, depression and violence.
At A Child’s Haven, we lift these children and families up, give them the tools they need to succeed, and chart pathways to healthy, productive futures. Our approach is research-based, with focus on three interconnected services:
» Click on any of the headings below to expand the box for an explanation.
Daily Treatment for the Child in our Center
When they first join our program, our children often show signs of emotional trauma, malnutrition, lashing out, inability to speak or even drink from a cup. Some are living with at least one parent, while others are living with relatives or in foster homes.
Under the close guidance of our trained clinical staff, each child makes daily progress in an individual treatment program designed just for them. We provide customized therapies for emotional self-control, social skills, speech and motor control. We also strengthen the child with love, support and nutritious food, while an on-site registered nurse monitors the child’s medical needs. We provide daily transportation for all of our children, and there is no charge to the family for any of our therapeutic services.
Intensive Guidance for the Family at Home
Healing can only succeed if our children enjoy a safe home and a healthy physical and emotional environment. The good news is that most of our parents want to do a good job raising their children- they just need someone they trust to help them learn how to do it. We give them that help.
Our clinical staff makes more than 1,500 home visits in a typical year, to monitor the children’s home environment and provide one-on-one training and guidance to the parents. This is time-consuming, tiring work. And it’s absolutely crucial for success.
Group Parenting Education and Prevention
As an affiliate of both Prevent Child Abuse South Carolina and Parents Anonymous, family support teams leads parenting classes at our center and around Greenville County. These classes reinforce the one-on-one training the parents receive during home visits, and provide the tools they need to raise healthy, successful children.
What Business Leaders are Saying
Some of America's top economists and business leaders are sold on the investment of strengthening young children at risk. Two of the most impressive- and vocal- business advocates for this work are James Heckman, the Nobel Prize winner for Economics in 2000, and Art Rolnick, the Senior Vice President for Research at the Federal Reserve Bank, and a member of the Fed’s Open Market Committee.
Their in-depth research shows a $3 return to the public treasury for every $1 invested in programs like A Child’s Haven. That’s better than any other economic development initiative they researched, and the reason is simple. Programs like ours take a child who is destined to be a liability to the public treasury, and turn them into a long-term public asset. Instead of growing up to draw welfare, criminal justice and healthcare dollars, the child has a good shot at getting a better education, a better job and paying taxes as a productive citizen.
- Learn more about the Federal Reserve’s research on work like ours.
- Read James Heckman's opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal.
- Read a recent perspective from The Financial Times.
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| Art Rolnick |
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| James Heckman |