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North Carolina family & child center extending outreach to Florida

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By Taylor Benedict

Thompson Child & Family Focus is known as a leader of prevention and clinical services in the state of North Carolina for both families and children. Now, for the first time, they have expanded their services to the Florida market. The group is creating a new Teen Case Management Unit to help children and teenagers in Florida who are considered to be high-risk.

This new unit was brought to Hillsborough County back in July, and the energy leading up to this expansion among the leadership at Thompson Child & Family Focus was very positive. The president of the group, Will Jones, explained how excited the group was to be partnering with nationally recognizable Eckerd Connects to bring this new program to life.

Child Welfare system

Outreach will specifically be focused on those in the Child Welfare system. Many of these children face multiple struggles, including prior trauma and current mental illnesses. There are a high number of teens in the system who do face mental illnesses, and in fact, upwards of 47 million Americans face mental illnesses today.

There is also a high volume of kids and teens in the Welfare system who have found themselves escaping a dark situation at home. Between 2004-2013, the number of criminals prosecuted for commercial sexual exploitation of children almost doubled, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This, coupled with the rising rates of child abuse during the pandemic, make for many teens needing to escape their homes.

Thompson Child & Family Focus

Thompson Child & Family Focus has made a major impact in the communities it is already in. With over 20 years of experience and counting, Thompson Child & Family Focus encompasses 260 foster homes, which serve 270 children. They have seen incredible growth in the mental health services of the areas they work in, and have also been able to hire multiple new team members through the years to help these at-risk children.

Thompson Child & Family Focus has also been able to help refugees, as reported in a 2018 article. Their strategic partnership with Bethany Christian Services, which is known to help the refugee community in Asheville, North Carolina, has bridged refugee services to Thompson Child & Family Focus. This is undoubtedly incredibly important, as many at-risk refugees face a menagerie of problems after entering the states. This includes a mere 1.5% of cases involving women and children with an established “credible fear” of returning to their countries being able to remain in the U.S. without being deported, as found in a recent TRAC Immigration study.

For more information on Thompson Child & Family Focus and the incredible impact they are bringing to the Florida community, visit their website today!

Bethany Christian Services, Clinical Services, High Risk, Immigration, Mental Health, Prevention, Refugees, Teen Case Management Unit, Thompson Child & Family Focus, Trauma

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