STAMFORD, CT – Saint Joseph Parenting Center (SJPC), a Fairfield County-based organization dedicated to strengthening families at risk of child abuse and neglect by providing parenting education, case management and community resource support, announced that it is honoring Connecticut Department of Children and Families Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes with its 2022 Imagine Award. Given annually in recognition of individuals who have achieved greatness in positively impacting the lives of children and parents in CT, the Imagine Award is the centerpiece of SJPC’s annual benefit dinner, which is being held this year at New Canaan Country Club on Sept. 29.

“Commissioner Dorantes has long supported Saint Joseph Parenting Center and our work on the front lines of child abuse and neglect prevention through our parent-education and community-support programs,” said SJPC Executive Director Rhonda Neal.

“Like SJPC, Commissioner Dorantes understands the importance of family relationships, physical and emotional presence, mental wellness and financial stability to a child’s well-being,” Neal added. “Her leadership, vigor, tenacity and wisdom during her many years at the Department of Children and Families has had a profound impact on the lives of children and parents across the state and in our Fairfield County community.”

Dorantes joined the department in 1992, and in 2019 she became Connecticut’s first African American DCF commissioner. Among her accomplishments, Dorantes played a crucial role in the 2018 federal approval of Connecticut’s Family First Prevention Plan, which provides families with greater access to mental health services, substance-use treatment and in-home skill-based parenting as part of the state’s effort to stabilize families and keep them safely together. Earlier, Dorantes was instrumental in gaining a court order to end a federal consent decree imposed on DCF in 1991, which was part of a settlement between the state and plaintiffs arising from claims that the agency was not providing adequate protective services for children in Connecticut.

About Saint Joseph Parenting Center

Founded in 2009, Stamford-based Saint Joseph Parenting Center is a community-based resource for parents with children from birth through age 12. SJPC provides supportive parenting-education classes and case management to help parents foster healthy parenting patterns in an effort to decrease the incidence of child abuse and neglect. Our client population ranges from parents in their early 20s to those in their late 50s; 59% are women, 41% are men. Approximately 90% of our clients are low to moderate income; 60% are Latinx and speak Spanish as their primary language. SJPC has served more than 1,700 parents since inception. In February 2022, SJPC opened a second location in Danbury. Learn more about Saint Joseph Parenting Center at www.sjpcenter.org.