SCAN of Northern Virginia, Inc.

Established in 1988, SCAN is the only Northern Virginia organization focused solely on the prevention of child abuse and neglect. SCAN’s mission is to promote the well-being of children, improve parent-child relations, and prevent child abuse and neglect. SCAN employs an integrated approach to child abuse prevention that recognizes the wide range of risk factors influencing child maltreatment do not exist in isolation but are interrelated and working across systems.

SCAN's comprehensive and integrated child abuse prevention approach is based on three child abuse prevention models that overlay one another and work in tandem to address the complex mix of factors that place children at risk: Socio-Ecological Model; Spectrum of Prevention Model; and the Public Health Prevention Model. With these three prevention models as the foundation, SCAN implements four programs: Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program, Family Programs, Institutional Abuse Prevention, and Public Education/Awareness.

SCAN's Institutional Abuse Prevention Program trains front-line child-serving professionals on the signs and symptoms of abuse, trauma-informed practices to not revictimize the child, and provides a forum for professionals to meet via Trauma-informed Community Networks (TICNs).

SCAN's Public Education Program aims to raise public awareness about child abuse issues and build public support for parenting as a difficult but important job through regional collaborations and media campaigns serving Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax/Falls Church, Loudoun, and Prince William.

SCAN's Family Programs that implements parenting classes in both Spanish and English, educational parent support groups, and community-based parenting workshops.

SCAN's Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program which recruits, trains, supports, and supervises CASA volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in Alexandria and Arlington.

By sharing a vision of strong families and healthy children, SCAN's direct service programs and broader public education efforts promote positive parenting, strengthen families, and contribute to the well-being of our community's children. SCAN's vision is that every child in Northern Virginia will grow up in a safe, stable, nurturing family, with the supports the child needs to contribute to stronger communities today and as adults tomorrow.

Our strategic directives are:
#1: Strengthen and expand recognition of SCAN as an accessible, useful source of parenting information, support, and connections among families and those who influence families throughout Northern Virginia.

#2: Identify, engage, and empower partners, volunteers, and supporters in meaningful collaborations through focused, inspiring, and evidence-based messaging that emphasizes our shared vision; and by providing opportunities and tools that enable every sector of the community to more effectively support and strengthen families.

#3: Leverage the knowledge, expertise, and positioning available through SCAN's staff, board, volunteers, and network to educate and influence everyone who can contribute to SCAN's vision.

#4: Serve as a voice for vulnerable children and an advocate for the well-being of all of Northern Virginia's children.

SCAN's mission, vision, and core beliefs are clear and well communicated to all. SCAN's staff and volunteers are very professional, committed, and effective, accomplishing goals with limited resources. The work environment is filled with trust and respect, and offers opportunities for open communication and healthy debate. Within the child welfare community, SCAN is a well-known, well-respected, and valuable resource and collaborator. SCAN's corps of volunteers is well supported, from professional training and curricula to the management of caseloads within the CASA program, and from the professionalism and knowledge of SCAN's staff.

SCAN's Public Education Program, in partnership with its Allies in Prevention Coalition (now 90+ members strong), has served as a catalyst for promoting positive and nurturing parenting messages throughout Northern Virginia. SCAN's Executive Director hosted a monthly radio show called “Parenting Today" on five major local Clear Channel radio stations. The Public Education team developed 17 new fact sheets for our online Parent Resource Center. SCAN also provided child sexual abuse prevention training (3-hour Stewards of Children) to over 240 youth-serving professionals throughout Northern Virginia. SCAN reached 11,000 page views and 24,000 fact sheets downloaded from its Parent Resource Center. More than 50,000 people listened to SCAN's radio show broadcasts.

SCAN's Family Programs and concurrent children's programs served 207 parents and benefitted 341 children. Of those, 63 parents and 109 children participated in SCAN's parenting classes and concurrent children's program, in which parents learned anger management, child development milestones, problem-solving skills, and alternatives to hitting and yelling through family rules and rewards.

SCAN of Northern Virginia's Alexandria/Arlington CASA Program trained and supervised 96 Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers, who spent 8,587 hours last year advocating for 202 abused and neglected children in Alexandria and Arlington. CASA volunteers submitted reports to the Court detailing the information gathered, highlighting the needs of the children they served, and advocating for appropriate and necessary services for the children and their families. Every four years, SCAN undertakes a rigorous and comprehensive self-assessment against the National Standards put forth by the National CASA Association. In 2014, SCAN was awarded certification by the National CASA Association after once again demonstrating compliance with National CASA's high standards for quality child advocacy and is thus a member program through 2018.

While we have been meeting our volunteer, service, and public awareness goals yearly, we recognize that our programs and initiatives could use added enhancements to impact our efforts and further our mission. Among them are: recruiting and training more multicultural, multi-ethnic, and male volunteers for CASA; strengthening available training opportunities for volunteers and area service providers on child abuse and neglect prevention topics such as childhood development, trauma-informed care, and mandatory reporting; training and coaching additional facilitators to enhance their impact on parents; increase Spanish-language portions of parent and public education programs; and involving parents, staff, board, and community members in public education messaging. Through these coordinated efforts, SCAN's staff, board, volunteers, and community supporters can change the futures of our most vulnerable and at-risk children and families.