Just for Kids Receives Funding

​Beckley Area Foundation (BAF) awards a grant to Just for Kids, a nationally accredited child advocacy center, to upgrade their current phone system. It is crucial for this organization to have a system that meets the needs of law enforcement, child protective services and all the other partners they work with as well as the families they serve.
Replacement of the current phone system will improve their ability to communicate with individuals and organizations that they work with in a timely manner. As a small non-profit, it is a challenge for them to use needed program funds for basic infrastructure needs. BAF funding will help Just For Kids continue to provide the quality services for the children they serve and improve their capability to maintain strong communications in the community. 
Just For Kids serves every child and family in Raleigh, Fayette and Wyoming Counties.  One in ten children under the age of 18 have been sexually abused.  Children from all walks of life, ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic groups are affected.  Their mission is to help reduce the trauma that children experience who have been abused. 
As a nationally accredited child advocacy center their three main goals are to: 1.) Work as a team with law enforcement, child protective services and the prosecutor’s office to provide a child friendly environment to conduct forensic interviews of children who have been subject to criminal child abuse (sexual, serious physical abuse and neglect); 2.) Offer counseling to those children who disclose abuse; and, 3.) Provide prevention and awareness training in the communities served. Just For Kids conducted 118 interviews in the Beckley office last year.  Sixty percent of the children interviewed disclosed abuse in their interview.  Counseling is offered to every child who discloses abuse.  Their counselor saw 71 of those children last year and provided between 1 and 8 sessions of Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.  National research shows that close to 90% of the children who complete this therapy learn the skills to live healthier productive lives.
Just For Kids is also an authorized organization to provide the nationally developed Stewards of Children training which is a two hour video based training for adults regarding prevention and awareness of child sexual abuse. In addition, other prevention and awareness activities are provided throughout the year in conjunction with the Raleigh Co. Family Resource Network and the Women's Resource Center.
Beckley Area Foundation has awarded over $136,000 in funding to Just for Kids since 2002 through
its Community Grant program and other donor designated and donor advised endowments.  For more information on how you can support your favorite organization(s), call BAF at 304-253-3806.
To learn more about Just for Kids, visit their website at jfkwv.com.