Junior League of Springfield's venture to prevent child abuse pays off

In 2004, the 600 or so members of the Junior League of Springfield knew they wanted to corral their resources and make a big difference in one area.

They searched for one idea that would improve the lives of women and children in the community, says league member Stephanie Montgomery.

After about a year of studying the needs of Springfield and looking at other communities for answers, the members concluded that more could be done to prevent child abuse. The answer: Isabel's House, a shelter organized as Crisis Nursery of the Ozarks Inc.

It was a major undertaking.

"Honestly, I think in the past the Junior League gave about $100,000 a year. To think we we're going to raise $1.6 million ... for whatever reason, we thought we could do it. I don't know how crazy we thought we were," says Montgomery, now board president at Isabel's House.

The center, which just began its third year of operation, is designed to be a safe place for families in crisis to leave their children while they work through whatever trouble is taking place at home.

In its first two years ending June 30, Isabel's House helped about 550 children, or 253 families.

Open doors

Crisis Nursery Executive Director Gretchen Gambon can't emphasize enough the impact community support has had on Isabel's House.

"People just embraced us, which is interesting because you know child abuse is not a fun thing to talk about," she says.

Entities such as St. John's Health System, CoxHealth, Burrell Behavioral Health, Missouri State University, Community Partnership of the Ozarks, United Way and the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, among others, threw their support behind the endeavor.

And after the capital campaign, Montgomery says the nonprofit had no debt.

The center operates on an annual budget of $804,000, Gambon says, with the majority of expenses in wages and direct child care. The budget may seem large for a facility licensed to serve 20 children at a time, she says, but the house never closes. "We give them everything," she adds.

Children ages birth to 12 years old arrive at Isabel's House with only the clothes on their backs. Everything else is provided - clothing, diapers, food, educational supplies, toys, anything they might need.

Continuing operations are funded through a combination of grants, donations and a $250,000 contract with the Missouri Department of Social Services, Montgomery says.

Somewhere to turn

The next challenge is building trust with the families in need - "not only to let them know we're here, but to get those families to trust us enough to leave their kids," Gambon says.

About 60 percent of families that reach out to Isabel's House are referred by other agencies. The remaining percentage is split between self-referrals and readmissions, Gambon says.

The primary reason families seek help is because of homelessness or unsafe housing. Other reasons include in-patient treatment for mental health issues or substance abuse and "overwhelming parental stress," Gambon says.

"This is the parent that has picked up the phone and said, 'I'm at the end of my rope. I have nowhere else to turn. I'm really going to do something I regret,'" Gambon says. "They're trusting the person at the other end of the line is not going to judge them."

A child taken in by Isabel's House stays an average of a week, while parents address the crisis they're facing.

"We'll serve anyone, but generally speaking, we serve a very at-risk, under-educated, low-income population," Gambon adds.

Parents are pointed to the resources they need to resolve their problem, be it finding housing or getting help to fighting substance abuse. But the support doesn't stop when they pick up their children.

Kelly Hill, the daytime family advocate at Isabel's House, gives support to families from the first phone call and up to a year after a child is released.

"We really do our best to refer the parents to agencies that will help them ... meet the needs of the crisis they're in," Hill says.

The goal is to be somewhere to turn when it seems there's nowhere else to go, says Montgomery.

"I can't imagine ... having no one to turn to," she says.[[In-content Ad]]