COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — After a report published by the Tennessee Department of Children and Youth reported Cocke County ranks the worst for child abuse per 1,000 children, community leaders highlight the work done by community partners to move forward.
The TCCY ranks Cocke County no. 85 out of 95 counties for overall child well-being. Some of the main struggles include child abuse and neglect, which the Cocke County report said affects 31 out of every 1,000 children.
WBIR sat down with local leaders trying to address the problem.
Supervisor of Student Services, Bryan Douglas is a life-long Cocke County resident hopeful for the future. He works with students at the Three River's Learning Center, an alternative school within Cocke County Schools.
Cocke County Schools works to meet the needs of their community. All students have free breakfast and lunch, the school reworked the budget to keep three social workers on staff after grant money ran out, Douglas said.
"We're trying to encourage our staff members to be better at building up trustful relationships with children so they feel comfortable talking with an adult," Douglas said.
He said some of the work when kids come to school, is making sure their needs are met before they can learn.
"If you're not safe and secure, if you don't have food, if you're not loved somewhere, you're just not worried about what's going on in social studies that day."
Jennifer Ellison, another person born and raised in the county, is bringing resources for literacy and learning, through the organization Cocke County Cradle to Careers Coalition.
Some of the community initiatives include a community garden, a free library, summer programming and working with school-aged children to encourage careers, trade schools and college.
"The solution to these problems will be the same in every county," Ellison said. "It's to give people resources, lift up the family, and to give that helping hand to say 'Hey you can do this.'"
Other resources for the county include Safe Harbor of the Smokies, which works with some of the most severe child abuse cases.
One of the challenges their Executive Director Maggie McNally Kimball said affects their reach in Cocke County is the lack of transportation and access to their Sevierville office, a 40-minute drive from Newport.
"We had a grant and got a satellite office in Cocke County," McNally Kimball said. "We'd love to get that again."