Junior League moves forward with crisis nursery

The Junior League of Springfield is working to help prevent child abuse in the Ozarks by bringing a crisis nursery to the city.

A crisis nursery is designed to provide round-the-clock residential care for children when there is trouble at home and to offer families in crisis education, respite, support and counseling services.

JLS has formed partnerships with CoxHealth, St. John’s Health System, Burrell Behavioral Health, Community Partnership of the Ozarks, Missouri State University and United Way of the Ozarks to establish the crisis nursery, which organizers hope to open by next spring.

“This is a need that is not being met,” said Brooke O’Reilly, JLS project review chairwoman. “There are some opportunities for teenagers, but there is no other agency that provides this care (for children) in our area.”

Bringing in funds

Every few years, JLS’ members vote to focus on an area that they feel could use their help.

JLS has been working on establishing a crisis nursery since spring 2005, when an overwhelming majority of the group’s nearly 600 members decided that child abuse and neglect prevention should become a focus for the organization.

JLS volunteers have been working to raise the money needed. Initial building costs are anticipated to be $1.5 million. Already, $1.3 million has been raised through fund-raisers including a charity ball during the holidays and a horse show in early June.

Springfield’s O’Reilly and Wooten families have contributed a $500,000 naming grant to the project. The official name of the crisis nursery has not yet been determined.

Annual operating costs for the crisis nursery are expected to be about $600,000, and JLS members hope to establish an endowment to fund the nursery on a long-term basis.

Ron Slone of Slone Architects has created a design concept for the building, and JLS is in the process of interviewing contractors for the project.

JLS has secured land from the city of Springfield and the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department for $1 a year for the crisis nursery. Plans are for the nursery to be built just west of Fire Station No. 8 on the corner of Scenic Avenue and Bennett Street, though final city approval is pending.

“We tried to put it in an area where we thought would be the best for people. … It’s right on the bus line in case people don’t have a car,” O’Reilly said, noting that eventually, the center also might provide taxi service to bring people to the nursery.

Abuse in the Ozarks

Carol Wooten, JLS marketing subcommittee leader for the Junior League, described it as “the dark cloud that sits on top of Springfield,” noting that child abuse rates for Springfield exceed both the state and national rates.

There were more cases of child abuse per capita in Springfield last year than in St. Louis or Kansas City, according to JLS statistics.

Greene County had 63.4 substantiated child abuse and neglect cases per 1,000 children, compared to a state average of 41 per 1,000 in 2004, according to the 2005 Kids Count Report. A total of 901 children were removed from their homes and placed in state care.

But JLS is hoping that with a crisis nursery, fewer families will have to be separated.

“We’re trying to help keep families intact,” O’Reilly said. “Sometimes there is just one more thing that might push a parent over the edge. Instead of abusing or neglecting their children, we are hoping to create that trust that they can bring them to us when that ‘one more thing’ happens. And hopefully they can get past this.”

Other services

Child abuse prevention, however, is not the only way in which a crisis nursery will be able to help families. Families may be referred to the crisis nursery for a variety of reasons, anything from young parents who may not recognize an ear infection, to single mothers needing someone to care for their children while the mother is hospitalized, to families who get their utilities shut off in the winter and need a warm place for their children to sleep.

Referrals may come from school nurses, teachers, pediatricians or other community organizations. Organizers are hopeful that the crisis nursery will be recognized as the appropriate caregiver for children during difficult times. [[In-content Ad]]