COLUMBIA, S.C. — This month, April, is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Six years ago, a local non-profit was created here in the Midlands to specifically address this.
Flourishing Families helps local family groups navigate unique challenges with children who have been abused or have experienced trauma in their early life.
"We come in and wrap the families with supportive services and teach them trust based relational intervention (TBRI), which is an evidence based caregiver education that helps families understand how to parent children looking through the lens of trauma and attachment needs," said Amie Cooper, Flourishing Families executive director.
This unique type of training is free to any foster, adoptive or kinship family.
All that's needed is a referral from a regional adoption office through DSS, for a few months to a year with a specialist or coach.
"It was just a breath of fresh air to be able to get that additional support, to be able to work with someone who knows not just academically what you're going through, but first hand what you're going through was also just, makes you feel like you're not alone and like you have somebody in your corner," said Erin Slayton, woman helped by Flourishing Families.
Through their training with Flourishing Families, Slayton and her family adopted their 7-year-old foster child.
She tells News 19 the training Flourishing Families offers goes beyond the surface, by looking at how the brain develops and responds to trauma.
"There's a lot of behaviors that I think to an outside eye look like defiance. I would say that's probably one of the biggest examples. And it goes beyond a little kid screaming no at you. It can be to the point where it literally interrupts your, what you had planned to do for that day. It's not getting done if these behaviors are not dealt with in an appropriate manner," Slayton said.
While challenges might be tough in these environments, having a toolkit to cope and heal makes all the difference.
This month, thanks to a $500 grant from Children's Trust, Flourishing Families is teaching their trauma-informed training in all parts of the state.
Tomorrow is the last free session from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. at the Mill Church in Pickens, SC.