Tifanie Petro Receives CPCM Outstanding Service Award

Front row: CHS CEO Michelle Lavallee, Lieutenant Paul Stevens (Pennington County Sheriff’s Office), Heather Sazama (US Attorney’s Office), Brandi Tonkel (CAC), Jessica Broullire (CAC), Jennifer Arnold (CAC), Monica Eaton Harris (CAC) Back row: Jorge Salas (Pennington County Sheriff’s Office), Sgt. Scott Sitzes (Pennington County Sheriff’s Office), Roxanne Hammond (Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office), and Cameron Ducheneaux (Pennington County Sheriff’s Office).

Posted on November 03, 2023

Sioux Falls, SD… Director of Advocacy and Prevention for Children’s Home Society of South Dakota (CHS) Tifanie Petro was awarded the Outstanding Service Award at the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment (CPCM) Community Response to Child Abuse Conference on October 5 and 6, 2023.

The award is presented annually to an individual who has made a great impact in the response to, or prevention of, child abuse.

“It was a pleasure to present the Outstanding Service Award to Tifanie,” said Tim Reed, South Dakota State Senator from District 7. “She’s one of the strongest advocates for the prevention of child maltreatment I’ve ever met during my seven years in the state legislature.”

As Director of Advocacy and Prevention for CHS, Petro oversees the Children’s Home Child Advocacy Center (CAC) in Rapid City, as well as the organization’s statewide Prevention, Training and Education program.

In addition to supervising collaborative investigations of child abuse cases, Petro delivers prevention and awareness trainings to professionals, community agencies and the general public on child abuse and trauma-related topics at local, state, national and international speaking engagements. She has been instrumental in developing South Dakota’s implementation of ACEs training and the Enough Abuse program.

Petro’s work includes the writing of SD Senate Bill 70, sponsored by Senator Reed, that revised provisions related to courtroom modifications for child witnesses. With the support of her knowledge and leadership, the bill passed and was signed by the Governor on March 20, 2023.

“I am privileged to do important work alongside some of the best in the field,” said Petro. “This recognition is just that—a demonstration of what can be achieved when passionate individuals come together.”

Past winners of this award include: 2022 Virgena Weiseler, DSS; 2021 Deb Soholt, State Senate; 2020 Chief Justice David Gilbertson, Unified Judicial System; 2019 Carole Cochran, SD Kids Count; 2018 Special Agent Cameron Corey, Division of Criminal Investigation.