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Organization: Exchange Club CASTLE Program Name: Safe Families Funder: Children' s Services Advisory Committee RFP #2007043 B. PROGRAM NEED STATEMENT (Entire Section B not to exceed one age) 1 . a) What is the unacceptable condition requiring change? b) Who has the need? c) Where do they live? d) Provide local, state, or national trend data, with reference source, that corroborates that this is an area of need. What: The unacceptable condition addressed is child abuse and neglect. Child abuse and neglect has well-documented, long term, harmful effects on children, including: an increased risk for adverse health effects such as smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse, eating disorders, severe obesity, depression, suicide and sexual promiscuity. ' Maltreatment in early infancy can cause regions of the brain to form improperly. " Direct financial costs are estimated at $24 billion each year, and indirect costs are estimated to exceed $69 billion a year. '" Who : Parents who pose a risk to their children, because of identifiable risk factors such as poverty, a lack of parenting knowledge/skills, or a parent' s own history of abuse or addiction. Research indicates that as many as one-third of all individuals who were abused or neglected as children will subject their children to maltreatment. `° Where: Last year, parents were served in all parts of Indian River County. Provide Data: While there is no "silver bullet" easy solution to the mistreatment of children, child abuse is very preventable . The overwhelming majority of families that abuse or neglect their children can learn to parent in a manner that is non-abusive when home base parent education is provided. Despite this record of success, only 45% of children who are abused in Florida receive such services, which may be why Florida has the highest child abuse rate in the county (32 children out of every 1 ,000) . Locally, the Treasure Coast has an abuse rate of 29 children per 1 ,000, better than the Florida rate, but well above the national rate of 12 children per thousand. " Clearly, Florida can do more to protect its children. The CASTLE' s Safe Families program maintains its own program data. Safe Families has a retention rate of 94% (once enrolled, only 6% drop out early) . The national average for similar programs is 69%. Safe Families completes 92% of its scheduled visits . The national average is 65% . The average rate of re-abuse for families enrolled in home visiting services is 12-20%. The rate of re-abuse for families in the Safe Families program is 3 % "' v""x 2. a) Identify similar programs that are currently serving the needs of your targeted population ; b) Explain how these existing programs are under-serving the targeted population of your program. Safe Families serves a population that is not served by the other abuse prevention programs in Indian River County. However, in concert with two other programs, there is a seamless system of prevention efforts that spans all age levels and all risk levels : * CASTLE' s Safe Families serves : Children ages 0- 17, primary and secondary risk levels. Accepts referrals from all agencies and accepts self-referrals. *Healthy Families serves : Pregnant mothers and newborns (up to 15 days old) . *Hibiscus (Hope) program serves : Families who are at imminent risk of having their children removed (tertiary risk level) . Accepts only DC&F referrals. These eligibility differences help each program specialize in a particular target population. 4