The Children's Center delivers its vital services by providing:

Safe, nurturing home for children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect or are homeless

Proven, effective, evidence-based programs to help parents grow strong in their all-important jobs of taking excellent care of their children

Evidence-based programs that empower children and youth by giving them the skills and understanding to navigate their lives and become responsible citizens

The staff at the Children’s Center instills in the children a foundation of faith, responsibility, accountability, firm boundaries, unconditional respect and self-esteem. As a result, when children leave, they are empowered to make healthy lifestyle choices and have the courage to speak up when confronted with an abusive environment.

History

In 1998, a group of interested, concerned citizens recognized that neither parents nor children are inherently bad but often their circumstances are. They initiated solutions for these families, and for more than three decades the Children’s Center has been a beacon of hope for children and families who need to break a defeating cycle through proactive instructive support and encouragement.

Working with just 40 individuals in 1998, the Children’s Center has assisted, nurtured and taught nearly 1,000 children and family members per year. Since its outset, the Children’s Center has served approximately 9,000 individuals.

Staff

The Children’s Center staff is comprised of highly trained, compassionate, dedicated caregivers who are genuinely invested in the safety and success of children. The Children’s Center provides quality adult supervision with a minimum ratio of one staff member for every four children under its care. Its staff provides the children supportive interaction 24-hours per day, seven days a week.

Meet Our Staff & Board

Ninety cents of every dollar go directly to programs that provide child maltreatment prevention and intervention services to children and families.

Finances

All funds for the Children’s Center are put to good use by supporting the Center’s mission to prevent maltreatment of children and provide intervention services to children and families in Surry and surrounding counties. Unfortunately, the need for services provided by the Children’s Center is ever-growing. This graph is a snapshot of how funds are used at the Children’s Center.

Pfc. Adam Marion Center

The Children’s Center’s Pfc. Adam Marion Center is named for Adam Marion, who was 26 years old when he was killed on April 28, 2008 during an attack on a base near Baghdad while he was serving in the Operation Iraqi Freedom campaign. Adam was a 2000 graduate of Surry Central High School and had worked for the Children’s Center. He loved volunteering to help kids, both locally and while in Iraq.

The Children’s Center’s primary teaching, counseling and administrative building—the Pfc. Adam Lee Marion Children’s Resource Center—is a 1,916-square-foot facility in Dobson with an additional small building of 562 square feet where there are offices for parent educators, rooms where courses are taught and provides storage for course materials and equipment.

Accreditation and Affiliations

Standards for providing the best care for children who need out-of-home placement have been developed in conjunction with CARE, a program of Cornell University. CARE (Children and Residential Experiences) is an evidence-based program to support safe environments with strong program elements, including a wide variety of treatment programs and interventions that are trauma-sensitive and developmentally appropriate.

Each year, CARE administrators from Cornell visit and evaluate the homes, providing technical support, coaching and informed practices in caring for and helping the children who live there to grow in learning and character. Staff to child ratio in the Children’s Center residences is one to four.