Boys & Girls Town Southwest Missouri Campus in Springfield
Served 2,091 Area Children and Family Members in 2006
Springfield, Mo. (April 30, 2007) – The Boys & Girls Town Southwest Missouri Region Campus in Springfield served 2,091 children and family members in 2006 through a variety of programs. The Springfield campus total comprised of 40 percent of the 5,200 children and families Boys & Girls Town served statewide.
Of those served, 285 children were treated through foster care case management and 143 children were treated in residential programs. The Ozarks Family Resource Center treated 132 children. Sixteen children were provided treatment through outreach services. Six youth were involved in the independent living program, which guides youth between ages 17 and 21 in developing skills for living independently on their own. Auxiliary treatment services, including family therapy and other programs geared toward family members, helped 1,490 siblings and family members.
“Our entire focus is to do whatever is best for children who are troubled or have suffered from abuse and neglect,” said Chip Wolf, regional vice president. “We have an excellent staff that is dedicated to exploring and implementing innovative programs to help area children and families create new lives.”
Privatization of Foster Care Case Management Helps Expand Services
Boys & Girls Town of Missouri began serving as the private agency provider for foster care case management in Greene County beginning September 2005. This relationship marked the first time Children’s Division had partnered with a private agency for foster care case services in Greene County. Previously, Children’s Division has contracted with private agencies for foster care case management in the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas. Boys & Girls Town works with Missouri Baptist Children & Family Ministries and Presbyterian Children’s Services to achieve permanent living situations for children who are in the custody of the Children’s Division. A permanent living situation can be defined as reunification with families, adoption or guardianship with a relative.
As of September 2006, Boys & Girls Town oversaw 210 cases involving children in Greene County and achieved permanent living situations for 65 children. Year two of the performance based contract officially began October 1. Children from Taney and Christian counties who are in state custody are now included in the foster care case management program in Southwest Missouri.
Figures from Citizens for Missouri’s Children’s 2006 Missouri Kids Count Data Book Online indicate 5,504 children in counties contiguous to and including Greene County were identified as abused or neglected – an average of 49.6 children per 1,000 population. The average for Missouri is 41. Numbers are likely much higher than this as not all abuse or neglect is reported. “The number of children who are suffering from abuse and neglect is alarming,” said Wolf.
Child abuse affects the entire community.
Children who are abused or neglected are damaged physically, mentally, socially and emotionally, and are at higher risk for problems later in life such as adolescent pregnancy, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency and academic failure, according to Citizens for Missouri’s Children.† One study found that rates of arrest for violent crime were 21 percent for physically abused kids and 20 percent for neglected children by adulthood. Twenty-three percent of children who experience multiple types of child maltreatment had an arrest for a violent crime.
Where do Boys & Girls Town children come from?
With the advent of private agency foster care case management in 2005, Greene County continues to be the primary county of origin for children in Boys & Girls Town treatment programs, followed by St. Louis County and St. Louis City, St. Charles, Jefferson and Boone, and Phelps counties.
Children in Boys & Girls Town programs are referred by Missouri Children’s Division (55 percent), private insurance companies (15 percent), Missouri Alliance for Children and Families (8.4 percent) the Department of Mental Health (7 percent), the Division of Youth Services (6 percent), school districts (3.8 percent) and a few others.
In 2006, Boys & Girls Town helped children from 87 of Missouri’s 114 counties plus the City of St. Louis representing 80 percent of the state, and other states. Forty-three percent of the children at Boys & Girls Town are treated in residential programs. Foster care case management comprises 29 percent of the children served.
Where do Boys & Girls Town children go?
Ninety percent of the youth leaving Boys & Girls Town residential care in 2006 returned to live with a parent or family member, or transitioned into foster care or independent living services, or other less restrictive environment. |
Columbia Region
