About

About Susan L. Ernst

After retiring my 37-year real estate appraisal practice, I set aside a year to write Called to Serve: Standing with Survivors and Protecting Children Still at Risk. In the process of writing that book — listening, researching, and learning — I found myself stepping fully into child-protection advocacy work.

Over five years, I volunteered alongside children healing from exploitation and abuse. I witnessed both the depth of trauma — and the extraordinary resilience of young lives determined to reclaim joy.

Those experiences changed me.

They reshaped how I see community responsibility, prevention, and the quiet courage required to protect children in everyday spaces.

As I approach my 80th birthday, I find myself more committed than ever to standing with children and the adults who care for them.

In January 2026, under the seal of the University of Applied Research & Development, in collaboration with the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT), I completed the Post Graduate Certificate Programme in Child Protection – Level 7. The following month, I completed the Spillett Leadership University Certificate of Completion – Duty to Report: Mandated Reporter, meeting the Boys & Girls Club of America requirement for approved mandated reporting training.

Today, I volunteer locally with a Boys & Girls Club, supporting children through storytelling, creative expression, and conversation.

I am also a contributing author to multiple volumes of the Brave Kids Short Stories series.

I created For the Sake of the Children as a place to bring these lessons forward — to transform awareness into action, and compassion into protection.

This is not simply advocacy.
It is a commitment.