Scott O'Reilly

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In 2002 I graduated from law school with one intention in mind, do pursue justice for victims and families. I grew up in a small neighborhood in Cincinnati, and had two close friends brutally murdered, and their deaths shaped my future. There was only one career that I was interested in after graduation, and that was to be the best prosecutor I could. I quicky began picking up child abuse cases and became a well-respected expert in Southwest Ohio. By 2013 I was responsible for reviewing all of the child abuse and sexual assault cases for Clermont County, Ohio. Even though I had spent my career putting away child abusers, murderers, and rapist, I knew that incarcerating the evil doer was only part of the problem. I began to concern myself with what would happen to the victims and the families after the trial. How can we keep this victimized child from coping by not using drugs, suicide, or becoming a part of the criminal justice system themselves? There simply was no service, government or otherwise that was actively engaged in stopping these negative outcomes. 

Little Fork began as a very small group of law enforcement detectives and me merely reviewing cases to seek better prosecutorial outcomes. I then began adding other government agencies such as child protective services, hospital systems, non-profit groups, mental health providers, and court advocates to address the holistic needs of the victim and the family. 

We needed a physical facility to make this dream a reality. Not only was I working as a prosecutor, but I was committed to making Little Fork a reality. Initially, Clermont County was committed to providing land for the construction of Little Fork along with the YWCA domestic violence shelter. As a holistic provider, I wanted the center to provide residential options for families along with after care treatment and services. By 2014 we had identified the land and began working toward getting Little Fork approved for non-profit status. 

That was when personal tragedy struck my life. My wife and the mother of my three very young children was diagnosed with terminal cancer on June 13, 2014. I continued to push the dream of Little Fork while working full time as a prosecutor, caring for my children, and my sick wife. By 2015, I had to put a pause on my personal dream and focus on the trauma in my own family. On January 2, 2016, my wife died leaving my kids without a mother. By the summer of 2016, I called my good friend and mentor Mike Green and told him in no uncertain terms that Little Fork was going to happen no matter what it took, this dream would become a reality. 

I was named prosecutor of the year in Ohio by the Ohio Victim Witness Association in 2017. 

With Mike’s help we began recruiting talented business, medical, mental health, law enforcement, media, and non-profit professionals to a make Little Fork a reality. Then, three days before our first major fund-raiser, COVID shut the world down. With the uncertainty of this disease, we had to cancel and reschedule our fund-raiser three times finally holding it in August of 2021. I did not want to wait anymore, I wanted to get the doors to Little Fork open. I approached Mercy Hospital with trying to lease space to just get the concept up and running. With the help of Shane Kniesley, Mercy agreed to lease space inside Mercy Clermont Hospital to Little Fork. I further orchestrated two competing hospital systems to work together for Little Fork [Mercy and Cincinnati Children’s].