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Organization: Exchange Club CASTLE Program: Valued Visits Funder: Children's Services Advisory Committee RFP# 2006061 B. PROGRAM NEED STATEMENT (Entire Section B not to exceed one page) 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 requiring change is contact between a parent and child that puts the child at risk. The child is at risk for abuse, at risk of witnessing domestic violence between parents, and at risk of being used in a manipulative manner by estranged parents. Following Florida law, visitation rights are often ordered between a parent and child, even if the parent poses a risk to that child, or has hurt that child in the past. It is unacceptable that these visits take place in the community, without supervision, placing the child, the ex-spouse, and the general community in jeopardy. Who : Children who are at risk of abuse, or are from homes where domestic violence is present. Where: Last year, parents were served in all parts of Indian River County Provide Data : In Indian River County, in 2004-2005 , there were 314 children in foster care; there were a total of 490 domestic violence crimes; there were 698 child abuse investigations. These children are eligible for Valued Visits, should visiting a parent pose a risk. (FDLE crime reports, DCF abuse hotline statistics). A recent study of children in foster care found that for children 0-6 years old, supervised visitation resulted in: more visits with biological parents, fewer behavioral problems, and a shorter stay in foster care, than for children who did not have supervised visitation, (Family Relations, April issue, 2004) . [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 targetedpopulation of your program. here are no other supervised visitation centers in Indian River County. Before Valued Visits pened, supervised visit occurred in the offices of Department of Children and Family caseworkers, the homes of relatives, at fast food restaurants, or in police station lobbies . Visits in these locations were often poorly supervised, and inadequately secure . Research shows that the majority of visits scheduled under these conditions were cancelled and did not occur as scheduled, which does not allow the parent/child relationship to mend. 5