JOYFUL CHILD FOUNDATION-IN MEMORY OF SAMANTHA RUNNION
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Mission Statement
The Joyful Child Foundation is dedicated to preventing crimes against children through programs that educate, empower, and unite families and communities.
About This Cause
The Joyful Child Foundation was established in 2002 after the abduction, molestation, and murder of five-year-old Samantha Runnion, to take a proactive, life-affirming approach that addresses the difficult issues of cruelty to children while celebrating the joy that is every child. Although the organization is based in southern California, its programs may be implemented anywhere in the world. The Joyful Child launched its Be Brave - Be Safe Program in 2013 to prevent all forms of childhood victimization through education and consistent messaging about safety for parents, educators, administrators, law enforcement, nonprofit partners, and public agencies that serve children and teens. In the simplest of terms, BRAVE centers on children learning that no one has the right to hurt them, be it someone they know, someone older or younger, a family member, a friend, a neighbor, or even a stranger. And if someone does or tries to hurt or trick them, they learn what they can do about it. Each BRAVE lesson is designed to cultivate health, personal safety, and resilience skills for children at an age-appropriate level for every grade. The BRAVE Program identifies and cultivates the natural instincts of children so they can: • Recognize and avoid potentially dangerous situations and people • Think critically about and advocate for their safety through proactive BRAVE Plans • “Deflect, distract, and escape” from a physical confrontation, if necessary The BRAVE Program also includes an adult education component via BRAVE Parent presentations, where adults learn risk-reduction strategies, how to recognize grooming behaviors, and how to support children in developing realistic BRAVE Plans to stay safe. The Joyful Child currently implements the hands-on BRAVE Program within existing regional infrastructure for program delivery among partners that are already committed to child safety and that already exist in every community throughout the nation: 1) In-School BRAVE Curricula - a well-developed yet user-friendly 10-lesson model led by teachers throughout the school year in alignment with Common Core standards and Health and P.E. guidelines. With increasing maturity by grade level, lessons actively engage students on how to handle issues such as getting separated from an adult, safety to and from school, internet, personal, home, and school safety, bullying, peer pressure, saying no to unwanted touch, and drugs and alcohol. The lessons include classroom discussion, activities, role-playing scenarios, safety drills, and simple defensive tactics to distract and escape from violence or abduction. 2) BRAVE Workshops for Community Partners - an after-school model delivered through local nonprofits that serve families in transitional or very low-income housing, or in subsidized after-school programs. The Workshop format fulfills an opportunity to reach our most vulnerable children within a single, condensed time-frame by providing critical safety, verbal, and physical skills information within a 90-minute session for K-8 students and a120-minute session for teens. 3) The Joyful Child is continually enhancing the BRAVE Program with new digital content that ensures the lessons are relevant to current trends and issues. This content includes short video-based lessons that remain true to and complement the BRAVE Curricula while also providing a stand-alone option for digital program delivery that expands the BRAVE Program’s reach to other organizations across the country. The Joyful Child operates from the educational theory that behavioral change is the precursor to preventing child victimization. This means teaching best practices to children, families, educators, and youth-serving professionals through effective facilitators and curricula to empower communities to better advocate and collaborate to prevent crimes against children. The Joyful Child therefore offers programs, activities, content, and training specifically designed to affect this change, while uniquely and purposely focusing on prevention from a child's perspective because: • A “Safe Adult” simply cannot always be present to protect a young person • Nearly all crimes against children happen when the child faces a perpetrator(s) alone • The only person present to stop the violence is the potential child victim Fortunately, children can be taught how to dramatically increase their opportunity to escape from violence and get help. The Joyful Child’s BRAVE Programs equip adults with the skills, lessons, and resources to empower young students with those skills. In honor of Samantha and all children who have been victimized, The Joyful Child’s work is to share best practices for preventing victimization through sustainable program development for children and youth from every walk of life for generations to come.