At The Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center – the child always comes first. We believe that child abuse is a grown-up problem and together adults can stop the cycle. With this as our focus, we operate with the highest ethical standards and fiscal responsibility.

VISION

Our vision is to end the cycle of child abuse so that children can live in a safe and nurturing environment and grow into productive and healthy adults.

MISSION

Our mission is to keep children safe from abuse, and when abuse occurs, to work with our community to bring healing to these children and their families. We achieve this mission by:

• Creating a child-friendly, child-focused environment.
• Developing and delivering quality services.
• Ensuring a coordinated response by partnering with community agencies and not duplicating services.
• Engaging in research and adopting best practices to improve our services and knowledge.
• Empowering adults to understand the problem and its solutions.

CORE VALUES

These core values reflect what is truly important to us as an organization. These stand the test of time, from situation to situation and person to person, and as such, they represent the underpinning of our organizational culture.

Compassion

• We care about each and every child who has been or could be a victim of child abuse.
• We will never turn a child away due to inability to pay.
• We are focused on creating a safe and caring environment for children and their families.
• We want our staff and community partners to feel supported and empowered.
• We are dedicated to treating the children and families, our employees, volunteers, partners and donors with kindness and respect.

Commitment

• We are committed to providing interventions for children and families who have suffered abuse of any kind.
• We seek to provide a secure and protected environment for those we serve and always honor the privacy and confidentiality of the children and their families.
• We work to create a diverse environment so that we may deliver services that are sensitive to the cultural context of the families we serve.
• We consistently use best practices to expand our capabilities and improve the services we provide.
• We consider it our obligation to raise awareness and educate adults on how to protect children from abuse.
• We believe in holding those who harm children accountable.
• Our employees are our greatest asset, so we invest in their well-being and professional growth.

Collaboration

• Although we know that each individual has the power to make an impact, we believe that children can best be protected and treated through collaboration in our communities.
• Through teamwork and open communication, we empower the families, our employees, and our community partners to have the strength to do what is best for the child.
• We advocate for children both locally and nationally, by engaging in research, exchanging best practices, sharing what we learn, and reaching out to others to learn more.