Council Update: CSC Invests in Child Abuse Prevention

Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County (CSC) invests about $5.2 million in programs and services that directly support children and families involved in the child welfare system, staff told CSC’s board at its most recent meeting. Such programs provide lawyers for children in the court system, support for families with mental health and substance abuse challenges and child care scholarships for relatives raising children, to name a few.

CSC also works to strengthen families, and address overarching community issues that threaten family stability, by partnering with other local governments and nonprofits. And CSC supports programs that have both a direct and indirect impact on preventing child abuse and neglect in Palm Beach County. Through these programs – such as nurse-home visiting, Triple P (Positive Parenting Program), Project DULCE, BRIDGES and more – CSC invests more than $37 million to help families raise children to be healthy, safe and strong.

In other business

Swim Lessons: After only 23 children redeemed swim vouchers at Pioneer Park Pool in summer 2018, the Drowning Prevention Coalition (DPC) changed its policies with the pool, which is run by the Palm Beach County Aquatics Division. To ease the process and encourage more lessons starting in summer 2019, families no longer needed to apply for vouchers online to use at Pioneer Park. Instead, they could go directly to the pool and sign up for the voucher and classes at the same time.

In 2019, the number of children taking swim lessons at Pioneer Park courtesy of DPC went up to 95. The pool closed in 2020 during COVID, but the numbers have gone up steadily since. This past summer, 217 children received swim lessons courtesy of DPC – some through the walk-up program and some as parts of summer camp groups. The summer camp groups include children from Rosenwald Elementary summer camp in South Bay and children from City of Pahokee summer camp.

Walk to School Day: Sixty-five Palm Beach County School District schools participated in International Walk to School Day in early October. Organized by Safe Kids, a program funded by CSC, our county had the largest number of schools participating in the state – and quite possibly the nation. The purpose of the event is to share messages about pedestrian safety.