Changing the trajectory for infants and toddlers in foster care.

Every seven minutes in the U.S. an infant or toddler is removed from his or her home due to abuse or neglect. And 28.5% of maltreatment victims are under the age of 3. Many of these same children experience further trauma in the child welfare system, often through lengthy separations from family and/or multiple foster placements.

Safe Babies Court is working to change all that.

Safe Babies Court ignites collective action in local communities to strengthen families experiencing extreme hardships and meet the urgent needs of infants and toddlers who are under court jurisdiction and/or in foster care.

This collaborative approach ensures children ages 0-3 and their families within the child welfare system are embraced by a family support team and provided targeted and timely connection to services and resources. They receive focused attention on individual strengths and challenges. And interventions meet the specific needs of each child and parent.

SCIMHA partners with Child Advocacy Centers to support local implementation of the Safe Babies Court model.

For more information, contact Director of Programs, Josie Sawyer, at jsawyer@scimha.org

State Case Flow Map

South Carolina’s State Case Flow Map is a document that details the process for a Safe Babies Court case to move through the court system, from time of referral, until case closure.

Created by Safe Babies Court’s State Advisory Board, the State Case Flow Map is intended to serve as guidance to individual sites on SBC best practice standards established by state leadership.

To access State Case Flow Map, click here.