Child Protection Center Awarded $10,000 COVID Response Grant

October 26, 2020 – Sarasota

The Child Protection Center, Inc. (CPC) was selected as the recipient of a $10,000 COVID-19 Response grant thanks to the generosity of Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation. This funding was awarded to combat the increased demand for services that correlate with the expected rise in child abuse reports in the fall.

This grant will support CPC’s Children and Families Supervised Visitation Program (CFSVP), one of CPC’s four core programs. CFSVP has experienced a notable increase in services over the months of the pandemic as the program shifted to virtual outlets, providing 544 visits from April-September of 2020, a 35.3% increase or 142 more visits than the same period in 2019. Despite the quickly growing demand for CFSVP’s services, several grant funders have had to cancel or postpone grant awards due to the financial repercussions of COVID-19. This gap is expected to widen further as child abuse reports increase throughout the fall after children have been isolated for extended periods of time during the pandemic.

This is the second COVID relief grant awarded to CPC from Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation. Both foundations have a long history of supporting the vulnerable and the youth in our community.

Established in 1995, CFSVP provides a safe place for children to interact with parents without the stress of being in the middle of a family argument, observing a parent who is impaired by substance abuse and without uncomfortable conversations that include adult topics. By accessing the CFSVP, the risk of violence to children will decrease. Ongoing parent and child contact, through supervised visitation, has been shown to be crucial to a child’s mental health and ability to build a healthy relationship with the non-custodial parent. Over 50 Sarasota County citizens serve as CFSVP volunteers.

The Child Protection Center’s mission is the Prevention, Intervention, & Treatment of Child Abuse. CPC has been serving Sarasota & DeSoto Counties since 1980. In fiscal year 2020, The CPC provided 66,698 services to individuals.

For more information on CPC or the Supervised Visitation Program, visit www.cpcsarasota.org or call 941-365-1277