The Hibiscus Journey
1985 – 2020
1985 Hibiscus Children’s Center Founded
Honoring the vision of our Founder, LaVaughn Tilton
LaVaughn Tilton, Founder & Senator Gayle Harrel, Founding Board Member
35 years ago, LaVaughn believed that all children should grow up in a safe and loving home, free from abuse and neglect. Her dream and determination for a safer and kinder tomorrow for children has catapulted Hibiscus Children’s Center into the forefront of child welfare services. In 1985, this concerned citizen helped drive her community into action. LaVaughn and her family launched a campaign across the Treasure Coast that galvanized the community to stand up for abused children and ensure they had a safe place to temporarily call home.
For over three decades, LaVaughn continued to fight and advocate for our children. She held the role of Chair Emerita for the Hibiscus Board of Directors and was a member of the Martin County Guild. Over the years, LaVaughn chaired fundraisers and assisted in vital decision-making processes to sustain the future of her beloved organization. She was a gracious and lovely woman who was an inspiration and well-respected and admired by all who knew her.
There is no imaginable way to measure the thousands of children’s lives that LaVaughn has touched through her dream of protecting our children. The many accomplishments of Hibiscus Children’s Center is a reflection of the solid foundation and vision that LaVaughn bestowed upon this organization.
“History will judge us by the everyday difference we make in the lives of children.” – by Nelson Mandela.
LaVaughn Tilton has certainly made a difference in the lives of children and is the reason thousands of children have felt safe, loved and full of hope. LaVaughn is truly a hero for children.
October 24, 1989 The first child walked through the doors of “Hibiscus House”
The Hibiscus Shelter in Jensen Beach opened its doors as the only state-licensed facility of its kind on the Treasure Coast – and over 30 years later, it still is. Affectionately nicknamed by our community, “The House that Love Built”, the Shelter began with 12 beds to provide an emergency safe haven to abused, neglected and abandoned children from across the Treasure Coast. These children arrived to the Shelter scared, frightened and traumatized and immediately received nurturing and loving care from the volunteers and professional staff. Serving children from newborn to twelve years of age, many large sibling groups have called the Shelter home over the years. The Shelter grew along with the needs of children in our community and today, is a 36-bed facility that continues to provide 24-hour awake supervision, medical and dental services along with mental health counseling in a safe and loving environment. Older children may be accepted as well in order to avoid separating siblings and minizing further trauma. Educational and literacy services are emphasized, along with professional therapeutic services that include Equine & Music Therapy, an innovative approach to helping abused children heal.
In 2010, Hibiscus had the privilege of dedicating and renaming the Shelter
The Tilton Family Children’s Center in honor of LaVaughn and her family.
In 2017, the Shelter Renovation was launched to makeover the Shelter aesthetically, enhance services and fortify the Shelter to reduce the children’s trauma during a natural disaster. Completed in 2020, the makeover has completely transformed the 30+ year old Shelter to a beautiful home for the children and increased services that improve the children’s health and well-being.
The addition of a 1,500 sq. ft. dining/community room has been fortified so staff and children may shelter in place and help minimize the children’s trauma during a natural disaster. It includes an industrial kitchen with state-of-the-art equipment and appliances. The space will also provide an area to host group activities. A second addition includes new staff offices, staff lounge and meeting rooms that are more conducive to assuring confidentiality and creating a therapeutic environment.
Dining room addition
Office space addition
Newly decorated conference room
Fortified dining room/kitchen addition
New Mental Health room
November 18, 1992 Martin County Guild Holds First Meeting
Dynamic group of volunteers that create, plan and execute amazing community fundraisers to support Hibiscus’ services for our children. These amazing volunteers have raised over $11 million since getting started.
1993 Hibiscus House becomes Hibiscus Children’s Center to better reflect the wide range of services now offered to children and families in our community.
In 1993, Crisis Nursery Program, a nationally recognized prevention program, was implemented and due to its great success rate, was replicated around the country. The program lauded a 98% success rate of keeping children out of the child welfare system. In conjunction with local and state governments, Hibiscus Children’s Center has progressed with the changing needs of our Treasure Coast community and implemented the Supporting Families in Crisis Program (SFC) in 2009, which today continues to successfully provide primary prevention services to at-risk families who seek help voluntarily.
SFC Family Advocates Jackie Lindgren and Stephanie Symonds
Today, SFC has a 100% success rate in keeping children out of the child welfare system during and one-year after services. When a family member seeks help for a crisis, any type of crisis that affects a family, a Hibiscus Advocate will complete an intake evaluation over the phone to begin the process. Once it is determined that the family does not have an open case of abuse or neglect with the State, a Family Advocate is assigned to work with the family seeking assistance. Weekly home visits by the advocate are arranged and plans are put into place to help alleviate the immediate crisis and minimize the chance of it being repeated in the future. Asking for help is a sign of strength!
1997 Indian River Guild Hold First Meeting
Dynamic group of volunteers that create, plan and execute amazing community fundraisers to support Hibiscus’ services for our children. These amazing volunteers have raised over $8 million since geting started. View IR Guild Gallery
1997 The Hibiscus Treasure House Opens
One day, Hibiscus founder LaVaughn Tilton, had a great idea! A thrift store would be a great place to sort through all the donated items that Hibiscus was receiving. All items the children needed were put aside and the other items could be sold for revenue that would help purchase additional items our children needed. LaVaughn recruited Linda Schwaderer who had experience volunteering in thrift stores. Linda then recruited her friend Gayle Harrell, and the two of them visited every thrift shop in the area to scope out their displays and how they priced items. From there, the Treasure House blossomed! Today, the thrift store is a significant part of supporting the services for our children and families and provides household items and clothing to youth aging out at 18 years old along with necessities for families in our programs.
2003 Hibiscus Children’s Center Receives Accreditation
Hibiscus Children’s Center received agency accreditation in 2003 from the Council on Accreditation (COA) and continues today to maintain accreditation status through providing the highest level of standards of care. Organizations pursue accreditation to demonstrate the implementation of best practice standards in the field of human services.
May, 2004 Hibiscus Children’s Village Opens Its Doors
(L-R) Village Groundbreaking Ceremony included Mitz Pfeifer, Betty Gene & Norman Hensick, LaVaughn Tilton, Toby Hill, Former IR Sheriff Roy Raymond, Raquel Tilton and George Lehach.
Until 2004, Hibiscus Children’s Center had been known mainly for our emergency Shelter in Jensen Beach. Most people were not aware that the Shelter was forced to turn away more than 100 children every year for lack of bed space. There had been a crying need for a new facility where abused and neglected children could heal in a more home-like environment.
Under the leadership of Hibiscus Children’s Center Board of Directors, and with a tremendous amount of volunteerism and support in hand, a $5 million capital campaign “Building Hope … Mending Lives” Campaign was launched across the Treasure Coast. Without hesitation, our wonderful community once again stepped up to ensure that abused and neglected children had a safe place to call home. Within a short period of time, all eight Village homes were named by generous donors along with several rooms of the Campus Center. The Village homes were designed to create a nurturing and loving atmosphere that promotes sibling groups remaining together, participation in community activities, and the opportunity for the children to learn family and life skills.
In 2011, Indian River Impact 100 generously provided a grant to launch the Career Pathways to Independence Program and another wonderful grant in 2017 to implement the on-site internship component, Graphic Design Impact Center. In 2019, the CULINARY Program was added as an additional on-site internship opportunity for our youth. Today, the Village continues to serve youth, ages 13-17 years, with enhanced services including mental health counseling, career preparation and training with a focus on educational services.
The 7 Sanctuary Commitments
2017 Sanctuary Model
Hibiscus Children’s Center began a 3-year process to implement the Sanctuary Model to further enhance the critical care we provide to our children and families. All staff throughout the agency, along with several volunteers, have been trained in The Sanctuary Model. It is a trauma-informed organizational change model which organizes both our treatment and the way we run our organization and an inclusive model because it is a way of guiding leaders, staff, clients, and families to share the same language. Children who are placed at Hibiscus Children’s Center have been traumatized. One of the key elements to help address this trauma experienced is through trauma-informed care. Our mission is to keep children safe and our organization is redefining what safety means – SAFETY is taking care of your body and yourself physically, psychologically, socially, and morally. Physical safety is being safe in your body and safe in the world, psychological safety is being safe with yourself, social safety is being safe with other people, and moral safety is being safe with a guiding value system. Hibiscus Children’s Center received its Sanctuary Certification in 2020.
2017 Parents as Teachers (PAT) Program
Hibiscus Children’s Center implemented a new program to provide parent education through in-home visits to Okeechobee County families. The goal of the PAT Program is to provide parents with child development knowledge and parenting support, provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues, prevent child abuse and neglect, and increase children’s school readiness.
2019 SafeCare Program Implemented to Help Community Families
Hibiscus Children’s Center was pleased to announce a new prevention program serving St. Lucie and Indian River County families. SafeCare is a collaborative partnership between Hibiscus Children’s Center and Behavior Basics, Inc. The program, which is focused on providing parenting education through home visits, welcomes new clients and the services are free. SafeCare is funded, in part, by Children’s Services Council of St. Lucie County and Communities Connected for Kids.
Hibiscus Staff – Taking Care of Children for over 30 years
The Hibiscus Staff are definitely one of the most important elements of Hibiscus Children’s Center. Every day, dedicated staff are taking care of our most vulnerable children. When children who are scared and traumatized arrive at Hibiscus’ door, they are met by caring and loving staff. Our residential staff provide the nurturing, guidance, structure, encouragement, and love our children desperately need. Our community outreach staff provide critical resources and tools to help our children and families succeed. Additional staff working in administration help to support the operations of our programs and services.
This year, the staff have done an outstanding job taking care of our children and families during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Read About Our Amazing Staff