Since its inception in 1902, Marion County Children Services (MCCS) has championed the interests of one segment of the Marion community that can't speak for itself - children.

True to its stated mission, the Children Services Board over the years has demonstrated remarkable leadership in guiding the community=s ongoing efforts toward the prevention, identification, and protection of abused and neglected children.

As activities get underway this year for commemoration of April as Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a few challenges and promises from the frontline, or ground zero, of what I once heard a colleague refer to as "The War Against Child Abuse and Neglect.

Every once in a long while, communities are awakened and shaken by accounts of abuse or neglect sometimes too heart-wrenching and graphic to hear or openly discuss. At such times, these communities often seek and find comfort in a unified resolve to action, and the prevention of child abuse takes center stage.

These types of cases, however, are the exception. The most common form of child abuse is chronic neglect - children living in terrible conditions with parents or caregivers who are either uninterested or unable to meet their physical and emotional needs. Cases of long term neglect, which sometimes go undetected for years, occur with little, if any, fanfare. They constitute nearly 60 percent of our agency=s investigations.

Physical and emotional abuse of children is usually committed by the adults who are supposed to be caring for them in settings that should be familiar and safe, away from any lights, cameras, or reporters.

Considering this hidden character of the environment of abuse, it is no wonder that the work we do at Marion County Children Services can be quite daunting. Given that often the clients we work with are the perpetrators of the abuse/neglect, it stands to reason that they may, at least in the beginning, be less than happy about our involvement in their lives.

The subjects of abuse/neglect investigations rarely welcome those who represent a process that, in extreme circumstances, could ultimately result in either their children being removed or in they themselves facing stiff prison sentences.

MCCS does not have the authority to independently take action against perpetrators of child abuse/neglect. We typically initiate action with assistance from local law enforcement agencies through the authority of Marion County Juvenile Court. Even then, abuse/neglect situations that result in child victims being removed from their homes constitute less than eight percent of the total number of children we serve.

Last year, we provided a battery of services to over 2,000 children and 1,200 families!

Our service delivery system - from referral, through intake investigations, to ongoing service planning - recognizes the core value of keeping families together and keeping children in the most natural or familiar environment possible.
In fact, as we work with families to assess risk, institute needed safety and other precautionary measures, complete service referrals, and collaborate with other professionals, state law and best practice standards dictate that children be removed from their families only as a very last resort. And if they must be removed, we are specifically required to make every effort to work with the families so that the children can return home as soon as it is possible for them to do so safely.

Consequently, Children Services caseworkers spend much of their time educating and strengthening families by offering services and other needed supports.

Caseworkers complete referrals for family preservation services, parenting education classes, drug and alcohol diagnostic/prevention/treatment/support services, and domestic violence or anger management classes. Sometimes we either help families access needed services through local resources or we provide help directly by paying rent and utilities, buying beds and other essentials, providing food and clothing vouchers, locating and paying for respite care services, offering bus passes and transportation assistance, or paying for medical and psychological services.

Seasoned and dedicated as our staff may be, we certainly cannot take on the task of preserving families and protecting the children of Marion alone. At MCCS, we appreciate that working cooperatively with the entire community is critical to successfully meeting the needs of all Marion children. Since 1984, Children Services has partnered extensively with various public and private agencies on behalf of the County=s at-risk children and families.
Some of those partnerships include the Outstationed School Social Worker Program that allows experienced caseworkers to provide intervention/preventive services to students and their families at several area schools, the Family Preservation Program that provides intensive in-home counseling/support services to families through the Marion Area Counseling Center, and the Marion Alternative School programs that offer educational programming for at-risk youth in Marion.

With social service agencies currently struggling to keep their core programs afloat during stagnating economic realities and deep budget cuts, I cannot imagine a better time to make a case for continued creative collaboration. At MCCS, as we intensify efforts to empower families and guarantee the safety of our children, we also recognize that we must pull together as a community to develop a comprehensive system of care, one that should satisfy the varied needs of the families we work with and also bring strength and stability to all families in the community.