Chaddock Wins $1.6 Million Federal Grant

Chaddock has won a competitive federal grant to join a national network of child trauma centers that provide services and support to children and families who are exposed to a wide range of traumatic experiences, including physical and sexual abuse, domestic, school and community violence, natural disasters and terrorism, and life-threatening injury and illness.

With the four-year grant, Chaddock becomes a member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), whose mission is to improve the quality, effectiveness and availability of services for children and families who experience traumatic events.

The new Chaddock program will be directed by Chaddock's Angel Knoverek at an off-campus site still to be determined, and will be titled the "Chaddock Trauma Initiative of West Central Illinois" (CTIWCI). It will serve two target populations within a 75-mile radius of Quincy. The first is educators and service providers who have an impact on the development of children within the designated area. The other target population is under-served children and adolescents who have been impacted by abuse, neglect, catastrophic events, or trauma associated with a parent or caregiver who is deployed in the military.

The grant is for $1.6 million ($400,000 per year for four years); after that time the program has a goal to become self-sufficient. All of the money is designated to support the new program, with no funds being used for Chaddock's current array of services. Chaddock's Trauma Initiative of West Central Illinois will serve more than 1,780 children and youth. Additionally, the training component of the program is expected to serve approximately 1,500 adults each year, for a total of 6,000 trained during the four years.

Debbie Reed, Chaddock President/CEO, said about the grant, "We at Chaddock are honored to be one of only seven grant recipients selected by NCTSN this year from across the nation. The grant reflects extraordinary confidence in the high quality of treatment services that Chaddock provides. We are excited about the difference this Trauma Initiative will make in the lives of the real winners in this grant, the children and families, who have yet to deal with the traumatic events in their lives and who can benefit from Chaddock's nationally respected trauma-informed services."

The NCTSN grants are funded through the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Department of Health and Human Services. Congress created the National Child Traumatic Stress Network in 2000 in response to the growing need of children exposed to trauma in the United States. Soon after its launch, the NCTSN mobilized to respond to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then, NCTSN members have responded to numerous traumatic events, including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Virginia Tech shootings.

Combining knowledge of child development, expertise in child traumatic stress, and attention to cultural perspectives, the NCTSN supports the development and broad adoption of evidence-based and trauma-informed treatments. The NCTSN is a collaboration of more than 70 academic, clinical and community service centers, including UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Duke University Medical Center, which co-direct the Network through the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.

"With each new cohort of Network members, we expand the knowledge base of this relatively new field," said Robert Pynoos, M.D., co-director of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress for UCLA. "Children who experience trauma need all of us to work to improve care and increase access."

NCTSN member centers help children and adolescents exposed to all forms of trauma. National surveys suggest that by their 16th birthday, 25 percent of American children will be exposed to at least one significant traumatic experience.

"The local organizations that comprise the NCTSN are our strength," noted John Fairbank, Ph.D., co-director of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress for Duke University Medical Center. "We are very pleased to be moving forward together to the benefit of children and families across America."

About Chaddock
Chaddock was founded as a ministry of the United Methodist Church in 1853 and has a 155-year legacy of serving children. Today, the Chaddock team includes over 175 highly trained employees who serve thousands of children and families every year through a full range of preventative, educational, foster care, and treatment services. Because of a strong national reputation for excellence, children have been placed in Chaddock's residential treatment facility from 22 different states and one tribal nation, as far away as California, Florida, Texas, and Alaska. Even though many of the children currently have loving adoptive or foster care families, the early years of their lives represent some of our nation's most extreme cases of abuse, neglect, or other trauma. Chaddock's on-campus school provides specialized education for Chaddock residential students and also for many other students from the Quincy area. In addition, Chaddock's professionals offer consultation and education in the field of treating abuse, neglect, and other childhood trauma to schools, preschools, parents, and other professionals across the nation.