About Us

Safe and Healthy Children • Strong and Stable Families • Thriving and Prosperous Communities

What We Do

Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, formerly known as the National Alliance of Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds, is the national membership organization for state children’s trust funds.

We support a dynamic NATIONAL NETWORK

The Alliance provides leadership and support for a dynamic national network of children’s trust and prevention funds who are catalysts for positive changes in systems, policies and practices in their states to promote well-being for children, families and communities.

We are a PREVENTION HUB providing critical content to a broad audience

The Alliance provides trainings, publications and other supports to ensure broad audiences understand the role each of us can play in strengthening families and communities and preventing child abuse and neglect.

We offer multiple training opportunities to educate professionals, policymakers, community members and parents. Our national network of more than 1,000 certified trainers uses the Alliance’s curriculum to equip front-line practitioners with a strengths-based approach to build protective factors. Our groundbreaking approach about child neglect prevention has increased understanding that communities and society can neglect children and families and provided much-needed tools that allow us all to take action to promote well-being throughout the social ecology.

We strengthen and model PARENT PARTNERSHIPS in all that we do

The Alliance promotes and supports strong partnerships with parents through meaningful roles, structures and ongoing partnerships.

We are THOUGHT LEADERS in promoting the importance of prevention in systems and organizations

The Alliance engages with systems, organizations, researchers, individuals and policymakers to promote a strong prevention focus in all areas that touch the lives of families. In all of our partnerships and collaborations across multiple fields of work, the Alliance is the voice of prevention.

We remain strong in our OUTREACH

The Alliance ensures that it has a solid foundation, strong organizational structure, expert staff and sufficient funding so that its dynamic contributions will continue and grow. The Alliance joins with funding partners who share common goals, and we collaborate with leaders in the prevention field to achieve our mission. The Alliance board of directors is actively engaged in their roles of oversight, policy and direction for the organization.

Alliance Overview

The Children’s Trust Fund Alliance is the only national organization that provides support to state children’s trust and prevention funds. Click HERE to download an overview of our work, strategies and mission.

Download Overview

Theory of Change

In 2018, the Alliance developed a Theory of Change that lays the foundation for future work. The Alliance works closely with its board of directors, members and parent partners to implement strategic plans based on its theory of change.

The five priority areas in the Alliance’s theory of change are:

  1. Maintain, strengthen and leverage state CHILDREN’S TRUST and PREVENTION FUNDS
  2. EDUCATE broad audiences about prevention, and serve as a hub for prevention science, practice and policy
  3. Strengthen PARENT PARTNERSHIPS
  4. Engage and strengthen PREVENTION in systems and organizations that impact families
  5. Strengthen and maintain the ALLIANCE
See Our Theory of Change

Leadership

A board of directors, consisting of representatives from state children’s trust funds, governs the Alliance. The board provides leadership, vision and guidance in all of the Alliance’s work. Their important state-level roles as staff, board members and parent partners help ensure strong connections to the ongoing needs and interests of the national network. The Alliance benefits from their expertise and experience.

See Our Board of Directors

A team of staff and consultants carry out the Alliance’s mission and strategic plan. Each member of the Alliance team brings experience and in-depth knowledge in multiple topical areas.Team members link closely with Alliance membership, with parent partners and with state and national collaborators to achieve organizational goals.

See Our Team

Committees

The Alliance has an active committee structure where its members and others with needed expertise contribute to the growth and vitality of the organization. The committees help shape the Alliance’s work and provide a national platform for members to interact with peers throughout the nation.

  • Communications Committee – Advises the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance on strategies to promote the Alliance to external and internal audiences, to improve communications among its members and to support messaging about preventing child maltreatment.
  • Finance Committee– Conducts monthly reviews of the Alliance fiscal reports and assures that the Alliance’s finances are managed effectively and reviews annually the organization’s fiscal management and policies. The Board Treasurer chairs the Finance Committee.
  • Governance Committee– Ensures board effectiveness and that board policies are observed; nominates new board members; implements board development and growth; and ensures board members receive orientation and support. The Vice-President of the Board chairs the Governance Committee.
  • Membership Committee – Recruits new members and retains existing members; monitors and assesses the needs of members; and develops activities that promote active and engaged membership.
  • Public Policy Committee – Guides and supports the Alliance’s work in the public policy arena to proactively advance policies and legislation that bolster the strength and influence of state children’s trust funds and help build conditions where all families thrive and children grow up free from child maltreatment.

Mission

  • Ensure all states have a strong and effective children’s trust or prevention fund capable of leading and investing in strategies, policies and best practices that prevent child abuse and neglect before it occurs.

  • Initiate and engage in national efforts that help State Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds in strengthening families to prevent child abuse and neglect.

  • Promote and support a system of services, laws, practices and attitudes that supports families by enabling them to provide their children with safe, healthy and nurturing childhoods.

History

For 30 years, the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance has served as the national membership organization for state children’s trust and funds. We are:

  • A HUB for all elements in the prevention field
  • A THOUGHT LEADER in the movement to strengthen and promote the well-being of children, families, and communities
  • A strong PARTNER with PARENTS

In 2009, when the Alliance celebrated its 20th anniversary, we developed a history of our organization which contains a timeline of the child abuse and neglect prevention movement in the U.S. That historical document is available for downloading here.

Read Our History

Ray E. Helfer, MD, Award

The "Father" of Children's Trust Funds

The late Ray E. Helfer, MD, is considered the “father” of children’s trust and prevention funds, because of his conceptualization of special funds that could be used to ensure that our nation’s children grow up nurtured, safe and free from harm.

Dr. Helfer’s lifelong dedication to children serves as a model for all citizens. This award, sponsored by the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance and the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Child Abuse, was established in his honor and is presented each year at the Alliance’s Annual Membership Conference to a distinguished pediatrician for his or her contribution to the prevention of child abuse and neglect. All nominations must be submitted by representatives of children’s trust or prevention funds. For more information on Dr. Helfer, please visit the Ray Helfer Society.

See Ray E. Helfer, M.D., Award Honorees

2026 Roy Helfer Award Winner Ramkumar Jayagopalan2026 Award Honoree:

Ramkumar Jayagopalan, MD, FAAP

The Ray E. Helfer, MD, Award is presented each year by the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to highlight the contributions of a pediatrician in local and national efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect. Dr. Helfer, a pediatrician, educator and pioneer in the prevention of child abuse, conceived the idea that “Children’s Trust Funds” should be created in each state to ensure that our nation’s children grow up nurtured, safe and free from harm. Every year, state children’s trust and prevention funds provide more than $300 million in direct funding, technical assistance and other supports to statewide and community-based child abuse prevention strategies.

The Children’s Trust Fund Alliance and the American Academy of Pediatrics are proud to present the 2026 Ray E. Helfer, MD Award to Ramkumar Jayagopalan, MD, FAAP (Dr. Ram), in recognition of his more than two decades of leadership and service dedicated to strengthening families, improving child well-being, and preventing child maltreatment.
A board-certified pediatrician at Carolina Pediatrics & Adolescent Care in Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. Ram has devoted his career to caring for children and adolescents while advancing prevention beyond the walls of the examination room. His work reflects the core principles of identifying challenges early, supporting families, responding sensitively to trauma, and building the systems and communities children need to thrive.

Since 2019, Dr. Ram has served as medical director for Quality Through Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics (QTIP), South Carolina’s statewide pediatric quality improvement collaborative. Through this leadership, he has helped pediatric practices translate evidence into sustainable improvements that better support children and families. His work recognizes that preventing child maltreatment requires coordinated systems that identify family stress early, promote healthy development, and connect caregivers with meaningful support before a crisis occurs.

Dr. Ram brings the voice of a practicing pediatrician to statewide prevention policy as an at-large member of the South Carolina Children’s Trust Board of Directors and chair of its Policy Committee. He has been a strong advocate for voluntary home visiting and other evidence-informed investments that help families build the tools, confidence, and connections needed to raise healthy children.

Through his leadership with the South Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, where he currently serves as president , Dr. Ram has advanced trauma-informed care, suicide prevention, and collaborative approaches linking health care, schools, and communities. As part of the advisory committee to SC DSS, he has helped them revamp their health care policy for the children under foster care in SC. His work has helped demonstrate the power of pediatricians as trusted partners in promoting safety, stability, and resilience.

A clinician, advocate, collaborator, and systems-builder, Dr. Ram has dedicated his career to ensuring that children and families receive support before challenges become crises. His leadership in trauma-informed care, pediatric quality improvement, suicide prevention, home visiting, and family-strengthening policy is a model for all pediatricians.

Through his enduring commitment to children and families, Dr. Ram has helped build a stronger foundation for prevention—one in which children can grow up safe, nurtured, resilient, and free from harm.

The Ray E. Helfer, MD Award provides us with an opportunity to highlight and recognize his important contributions.