Statements
Mission
Our Kids provides medical forensic evaluations and crisis counseling services for children and caregivers when there are concerns of child sexual abuse. Our Kids is committed to increasing community awareness, conducting and publishing research and offering education and training professionals about child sexual abuse.
Background
Our Kids was founded in 1987 by the Junior League of Nashville, working in partnership with Nashville General Hospital and Vanderbilt Pediatrics. When laws changed making reporting abuse mandatory, there was no provider of medical evaluations related to child sexual abuse. Our Kids was created as a child-centered, compassionate and expert response to the tragedy of child sexual abuse. With a full complement of social workers, Our Kids created a unique, multidisciplinary model to address the many needs of both child and care giver. In addition, the medical providers collect forensic evidence that is used in courts of law all over 47 counties in Middle Tennessee and beyond. Both nurse practitioners and social workers testify as expert witnesses. At the root of the mission of Our Kids is safety and justice for the children. For 36 years, Our Kids has been trauma-informed and has integrated medical and mental health services. There is never a charge to the family for these services.
Impact
Impact Statement
Our Kids is a national center for excellence in the field of child sexual abuse evaluations. The following accomplishments reflect mission-driven, barrier-breaking work:
1) Our Kids has solidified an integrated presence in Middle Tennessee with four satellite clinics co-located in child advocacy centers in Cookeville, Lawrenceburg, Clarksville and Manchester. These satellite clinics, scheduled twice a month, provide expert medical care for children in their own communities. Since the first satellite clinic was opened in 2007, over 3,500 children have been evaluated in one of these sites. Most of these children would have never made it to Nashville to receive services.
2) Our Kids formed a relationship with International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN). For 9 years, individual medical providers have come from remote locations and Indian reservations to learn to conduct medical forensic evaluations. Our Kids nurse practitioners convene monthly case review sessions to medical providers across the country. These sessions function as a forum for teaching and allow for collegial encouragement, especially for providers in isolated areas.
3) Our Kids continues to strengthen services to Spanish-speaking families. Our Kids has two specially-trained interpreters who share after hours on-call coverage. In Fiscal Year 2022-2023, 88 families needed a Spanish interpreter.
4) Our Kids published a major, original, medical study concerning genital injury prevalence in the December 2016 issue of The Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. In 2017, Our Kids also published an article in The Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. In 2021, Our Kids collaborated on a chapter entitled "Trauma-Informed Care in Medical Settings" in the textbook Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health.
5) In 2018, Our Kids launched a national campaign called "What If I Told You?" This effort seeks to reduce the stigma of child sexual abuse while encouraging people to learn more and get help. The website has national link to report abuse of any kind, find the nearest child advocacy center and identify services for adult survivors. To date there have been over 121,000 combined views of the video and website.
6) In 2019, all four nurse practitioners presented at national conferences.
7) In 2022, the Our Kids nurse practitioners began a research project related to Trichomonas vaginalis in pre-pubertal children.
In 2024, Our Kids seeks to:
1) Continue the strong relationships and collaborations with the four satellite clinics in Cookeville, Lawrenceburg, Clarksville and Manchester by strengthening Our Kids presence at Child Protective Investigative Team meetings (CPIT). Our Kids will continue to attend CPIT meetings in 17 judicial districts each month.
2) Continue to train the Skills Lab learners. Part of this model includes monthly case reviews to provide teaching and support for these medical providers in isolated areas.
3) Continue to participate on ACE Nashville Leadership Team as the community moves forward with this collective impact model to decrease adverse childhood experiences, promote strong parenting and violence-free homes.
4) Create a series of training about child sexual abuse for HCA-wide hospitals.
Needs
1) Financial support to underwrite 'on call' staff, one nurse practitioner position and one social worker and many other necessary expenses of the Our Kids clinic such as facility management, staff development, and EMR (Electronic Medical Record) system.
2) In-kind donations for the center, including new toys, dolls, sports balls and books for our patients, and gas cards and gift cards for families in transition and financial crisis).
3) Technical assistance to strengthen training materials and conference presentations.
CEO Statement
An outpatient clinic of Nashville General Hospital, Our Kids is a national leader in providing compassionate, expert medical services and crisis counseling for children and families struggling with child sexual abuse. Our Kids provides medical forensic evaluations and crisis counseling for over 750 children and nearly as many caregivers each year. Serving 47 counties in Middle Tennessee, Our Kids provides 24/7 response every day of the year. Our Kids is considered a center for excellence and is recognized as among the best programs in the country. No family receives a bill for those services.
In 2013, Our Kids assumed more salary expense for clinical staff in order to adequately staff the main clinic and satellite locations. With an overall budget of $2,029,730, Our Kids provides unduplicated, essential services to the most vulnerable children in Middle Tennessee. Our Kids budget is $1,094,057, which is raised with funding from special events like Soup Sunday, Hammer Down Race and Kids Klassic Golf Tournament and with grants from foundations and individual donations. Our Kids is very thankful for its resourceful, dedicated and passionate Board of Directors who fully support the Our Kids mission, values and services.
In 2005, a multi-year giving program was established called Sophie's Society. In 2007, the first satellite clinic was established in Cookeville, followed by satellites in Lawrenceburg, Clarksville, and Manchester. The vision for Our Kids to have an integrated presence in Middle Tennessee has been achieved, creating access to expert, compassionate care in rural and under-served areas where the need is great and distance to Nashville poses a real barrier.
Our Kids is extremely proud of our published medical and mental health studies, adding knowledge and insight to the field of child sexual abuse. Two medical research studies have been published in The Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, and another paper has been published in The Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. It is very rare for a small nonprofit to be conducting and publishing research in professional journals.
The Our Kids family is proud of the launch of the "What If I Told You" campaign. This powerful video and website are designed to raise awareness around the epidemic prevalence of child sexual abuse and to provide national links to services for children, families, and adult survivors.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Health Care - Patient & Family Support |
| Secondary Category: | Health Care - Community Clinics |
| Tertiary Category: | Public & Societal Benefit - |
Areas Served
Our Kids primary clinic is in Nashville. Our Kids also has four satellite clinics in Cookeville (Putnam County); Clarksville (Montgomery County); Lawrenceburg (Lawrence County); and Manchester (Cannon County). In total, Our Kids serves children in 47 counties in Middle Tennessee.
| TN - Bedford |
| TN - Cannon |
| TN - Cheatham |
| TN - Clay |
| TN - Coffee |
| TN - Cumberland |
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - DeKalb |
| TN - Dickson |
| TN - Fentress |
| TN - Giles |
| TN - Hickman |
| TN - Houston |
| TN - Humphreys |
| TN - Jackson |
| TN - Lawrence |
| TN - Lewis |
| TN - Lincoln |
| TN - Macon |
| TN - Marshall |
| TN - Maury |
| TN - Montgomery |
| TN - Moore |
| TN - Overton |
| TN - Perry |
| TN - Pickett |
| TN - Putnam |
| TN - Robertson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Smith |
| TN - Stewart |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Trousdale |
| TN - Van Buren |
| TN - Warren |
| TN - Wayne |
| TN - White |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Wilson |
| TN - Franklin |
| TN |
