“When a child misbehaves, remember—kids are having a problem, they’re not being a problem.” At this week’s Allies in Prevention Coalition meeting, SCAN hosted 30 local child welfare professionals to hear from parenting expert Rachel Bailey as she shared insight from her work coaching parents in hundreds of local families. Why do children throw tantrums, hit a […]
On March 8th, SCAN’s Allies in Prevention Coalition hosted its quarterly meeting with a focus on the Importance of Routines for Children. Dr. Amy Parks from The Wise Family and Dr. Kelly Henderson from Formed Families Forward joined us to lead a fantastic discussion about why routines are important, how they affect children, and how […]
Since the launch of the Parenting Can Be Tough campaign, we continue to consider this theme through the eyes of different parents in our communities. The challenges of parenting can be universal—consider topics like discipline, behavior, stress management—but they can also be unique for different groups of families. This month, we invited a panel of […]
Last month, SCAN hosted an Allies in Prevention Coalition meeting to discuss the crisis—and our response as child welfare professionals—in Northern Virginia, where in 2016 we experienced 248 drug related deaths, 80% of which were opioid related . Professor Valerie Cuffee, LCSW, MSW, CPM from George Mason Univerisity (and a SCAN board member) led a […]
This Spring, SCAN hosted a series of free film screenings and panel discussions about the award-winning documentary Resilience: The Biology of Stress and The Science of Hope. Held with partners in Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William, we engaged parents and professionals in discussions about what it means when a child is resilient, how trauma […]
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. This will be the 15th year we celebrate the heroes who work passionately for the children, families and communities of Northern Virginia. Who will we […]
October 18, 2016 On Friday, November 18th, SCAN will partner with Prevent Child Abuse Virginia to host our 5th Annual “Speak Up for Children” Training for Virginia Advocates. Participants will better understand the legislative process and learn how to be an effective advocate. They’ll also hear policy advocates and legislators discuss some of the key […]
On October 5, SCAN—with support from LAWS (Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter) and its Loudoun Child Advocacy Center—brought together 129 local human service providers to hear Dr. Chris Wilson talk about The Neurobiology of Trauma. This relatively new approach allows those of us who work with children (including law enforcement, school staff, social workers and foster parents) to […]
The Arlington Partnership for Children Youth & Families (APCYF) recently launched a new “Parent Chats” initiative, an easy way for groups of parents to come together and talk about parenting: “The Partnership believes that, when parents share wisdom with one another, we all become better parents.” The chats can be as simple as a […]
How does it feel to be a kid in today’s world? How can we help children and teens manage new 21st-century realities — from the impact of online bullying to LGBTQ issues to the tragedy of rising suicide rates among youth? Earlier this month, we gathered in Arlington to discuss this new “Culture of Kids” with our Allies in […]
It’s estimated that one in every 122 people in the world has been uprooted from their homes due to conflict or persecution. Here in an increasingly diverse Northern Virginia, we see the impact of immigration, reunification and the refugee crisis on local children and adults. How can we support these families in our community? How […]
On April 5, 2016, SCAN presented the 2016 Allies in Prevention Awards. As National Child Abuse Prevention Month draws to a close, we know we’ll continue to be inspired by these heroes all year long, and we hope you will too! Meet Tabitha Kelly, a mother and child welfare professional who passionately works to build resilience in […]
Dr. Avidan Milevsky presented on the topic of siblings at an Allies in Prevention Coalition meeting in 2013, and will serve as the Keynote Speaker at this year’s Allies in Prevention Awards in April. (Nominations for the award are open and must be submitted by February 12th.) Dr. Milevsky’s recent article for The Huffington Post brings to […]
Parenting is learned. Parenting is tough. Parenting changes every day because not only do parents change every day but children do, too. Parents look to professionals in the human resource fields for help. The best we can do for those families that we work with and that are a part of our lives is to […]
This past week, SCAN’s Allies in Prevention Coalition hosted a Darkness to Light supplemental training and panel discussion at Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library in Alexandria. More than 40 service providers came from around Northern Virginia for the meeting. What subject drew so many people? The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. The short video training from Darkness […]
Since SCAN began offering fee-for-service workshops, we have held more than 26 of them and trained more than 525 people across Northern Virginia. The topics have been varied (everything from Darkness to Light [Child Sexual Abuse Prevention] to Positive Parenting to Operation Safe Babies to Using Children’s Stories to Build Resiliency to Child Care Workers as Mandated Reporters.) The audiences have […]
For two years, we’ve been talking about the power of connections in the lives of children. (#kidsneedconnections) When children have healthy relationships with positive adults in their lives, their resiliency grows and our ability to prevent abuse does too. But what if we also focused on the connection between adults and organizations, and the impact […]
May 1, 2015 On June 5, 2015, SCAN and its Allies in Prevention Coalition will host Mobilizing Connections to Strengthen Families: A Dialogue Between FAITH COMMUNITIES and HUMAN SERVICES. From 8:00 – 11:00 am, participants will gather at Unitarian Universalists Church in Arlington for discussion, sharing and connection-building to address the issues surrounding child abuse and family violence. The […]
Every spring, SCAN celebrates five individuals from each region of Northern Virginia at its annual Allies in Prevention Awards Luncheon. The award winners (there have been more than 60 since the awards began in 2003!) have come from all walks of life — from social workers and foster parents to judges and doctors — and each have […]
March 25, 2015 With help from ABC7’s Leon Harris, SCAN honored five heroes for their work to prevent child abuse and support families in Northern Virginia at its 13th Annual Allies in Prevention Awards Luncheon on March 25, 2015. Honorees were selected by a task force of the Allies in Prevention Coalition from five jurisdictions […]
This month SCAN’s Allies in Prevention Coalition held a quarterly meeting with one question in mind: How can we be more intentional about making the time and effort to connect with the kids in our lives? As discussion continued, it became clear that as resource providers, we think about this almost constantly. But we’re thinking […]
Today on the blog we welcome Robin Hamby, an honoree at last year’s Allies in Prevention Awards as well as an active member of SCAN’s Allies in Prevention Coalition. A good part of my career has been spent recognizing and celebrating individuals’ accomplishments. At first this meant telling a 5th grader struggling with learning problems, […]
Our Allies in Prevention Coalition is a force to be reckoned with in Northern Virginia. Over 80 members strong, it represents all five jurisdictions of the region and every area of service for children and families. Each time the coalition meets, I see members become armed with even more information and strengthened in their resolve […]
Imagine a preschool child who has great fun on the school playground but every time he hears the teacher say it is time to go back inside, he tends to go the other direction. He’s hard to “corral” back into the building and then has trouble concentrating or focusing on the next activity. His teachers […]
What do a local judge, a foster parent and an emergency room doctor have in common? How about a social worker and a Parks & Recreation employee? Or an attorney and a probation officer? Every one of these individuals has received an Allies in Prevention Award from SCAN and its Allies in Prevention Coalition. Over the […]