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Exchange Club hosts DFACS for Child-Abuse Prevention month
Exchange Club donations to DFACS
Staff members from the Effingham County Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFACS) were guests of the Exchange Club at its regular meeting April 16. The Exchange Club donated car seats and gift bags with diapers and baby wipes. (Photos by Barbara Augsdorfer/Effingham Herald.)

By Barbara Augsdorfer, editor for the Effingham Herald

Child abuse prevention is the national project of the Exchange Club, so for Child-Abuse Prevention month in April, the Department of Family and Children’s Services was the club’s invited guests April 16.

Alexus Smart from DFACS shared a few statistics, such as 33 foster care cases open for investigation, 16 for CPS ongoing or “family preservation”; and 26 for family support cases. The agency also has more than 2,700 active Medicaid and SNAP-benefit cases and 230 applications from mid-February through mid-March; and more than 4,800 active Medicaid cases in March.

Rutland and Smart
Jimmy Rutland, left, immediate past president of the Effingham County Exchange Club, holds the proclamation from the Effingham County Board of Commissioners that proclaimed April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Effingham County. The proclamation was presented to Alexus Smart with the Effingham County Department of Family and Children’s Services at the county commission meeting April 15.
“We did see a slight increase from February to March,” Smart said.

Smart mentioned the agency’s regional adoption unit that works with DFACS agencies in Bryan and Bulloch counties in addition to Effingham. She added that there is more of a need for adoptions of children age five and older.

Households who are interested in starting the process to become adoptive families may go to the DFACS website at: www.fostergeorgia.com.

The Exchange Club also introduced its new officers for 2025: President Eva Goldwire, President – Elect Henry Walker, Secretary Yvette Carr, and Treasurer April Brackin. Immediate past president is Jimmy Rutland.