SCAN Receives Gift Cards for Children

Greater Richmond SCAN, Stop Child Abuse Now, was one of the organization’s selected by the National Children’s Alliance to receive Target Gift Cards from the Verizon Foundation.

Harper:  The Verizon Foundation awarded a hundred thousand in Target gift cards nationally.

Jeanine Harper, SCAN’s Executive Director, said the cards will go to children who’ve undergone traumatic experiences.

Harper:  We received seven hundred dollars in gift cards that we're distributing to children who are in need of school supplies and clothes to be able to get off to a good start in school.

SCAN, Harper said, has only one purpose.

Harper:  Our goal is to prevent children from being hurt by abuse and neglect and if people want to learn more about it, they can go to our website, gr SCAN DOT com.

In the bad economy, SCAN is busier, she added, than they’d like to be.

Harper:  We generally are seeing somewhere around five to seven hundred children at a time.

SCAN is a regional program.

Harper:  We serve primarily kids who are from the city of Richmond and then also Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover.  But, we also serve outlying counties as well.

To stop child abuse, Harper explained:

Harper:  We provide services both to parents and children because we believe the greatest impact that we can have on the lives of young children, particularly children at risk, is to help their parents.  So, we work with parents all along the continuum from parents who need a little bit of help to people who are in court cases that need a lot of help.  And then as far as children go, we work with kids who have already experienced abuse and neglect and work to help provide healing for them.  And then we also provide advocacy services for children who are in child abusive cases in the courts and then, work with kids to really help booster their coping skills, whose parents might be getting services from us and they haven't been heard, but, they're at high risk.

SCAN’s clients come to them in a variety of ways. Very often, she said, people know when the tension in their family is creating problems.  Problems that could get worse--much worse.

Harper:  Families come to SCAN either because they call us because they're overwhelmed and they're looking to get some help.  They oftentimes will come to a workshop because their children's school has one, or another organization that's serving them.  And then, a fair amount of the families that we get come to us through the courts, the Department of Social Services, who are involved in their lives.

Child abuse is something no community should tolerate, Harper believes.

Harper:  It's so important for our community to make a commitment and to act upon that commitment to protect children and ensure that all children grow up in healthy, safe homes.

Founded in 1991, Greater Richmond SCAN’s programs include the Family Support; the Child Advocacy Center; the FAM, Families Are Magic Prevention Program, and Richmond Court Appointed Special Advocates.  Learn more about nationwide efforts to end child abuse at: National Children’s Alliance DOT org.