Holmes Receives Child Abuse Prevention Leader Award
Valerie Holmes, executive director of Brevard C.A.R.E.S. received the Brevard County Child Abuse Prevention Task Force “Child Abuse Prevention Leader” award at the organization’s annual banquet held recently in Viera. The award recognizes an individual in the community who has proven to be a pioneering leader in the field of child welfare, with multiple years of service toward strengthening children, families and the community.
Ms. Holmes has been a leader in the development and management of Brevard County’s child welfare system for the past five years. With the help of her experience and expertise the Brevard C.A.R.E.S. program has successfully diverted over 6,800 children from the dependency system and kept more than 3,000 families from reaching the threshold of abuse and neglect. Since the inception of Brevard C.A.R.E.S. in 2005, the census of children in the dependency system has decreased from 1,530 to fewer than 750 today. At any given time, Brevard C.A.R.E.S. is serving over 500 children and their families. Her leadership has been pivotal in the reduction of child abuse in Brevard County by 50%.
In September 2009, she began her role as the executive director of Brevard C.A.R.E.S., with responsibility for the oversight of all administrative, fiscal and programmatic activities of the prevention and diversion programs. She also works in concert with the C.A.R.E.S. national replication team and serves as the principal point-of-contact and project lead on any research and data analysis of Brevard C.A.R.E.S.
