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Organization: Exchange Club CASTLE Program: Safe Families Funder: Children ' s Services Advisory Committee RFP: #5054 Be 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 child abuse and neglect . Child abuse and neglect has well -documented, long term, harmful effects on children , including permanent physical injuries , chronic low self esteem, developmental delays , difficulty in forming attachments and relationships , mental illness , aggressive behavior, and a cycle wherein an abused child is much more likely to , in turn , abuse his or her own children ! Who : Parents who pose a risk to their children , because of identifiable risk factors such as poverty, a lack of parenting knowledge and skills , or a parent ' s own history of abuse or addiction . Where : Last year, parents were served in all parts of Indian River County. Provide Data : The overwhelming majority of families that abuse or neglect their children can , with the proper support , learn to parent in a manner that is non abusive (research shows that home based parent education is the most effective way to prevent abuse and neglect") . This allows the family to remain intact and avoid the trauma of an out of home placement for the child. Research indicates that 96-98 % of families who engage in home-based parent education programs such as Safe Families , do not re-abuse their children . This reduces by almost two- thirds , the number of children who face further abuse at the hands of their caretakers . "' Keeping a family intact eliminates the need for a foster care placement, where a child is three times more likely to be abused in state care as compared to remaining with parents . '" Locally, Indian River County had over 1 , 100 abuse reports filed in 2001 -2002 . The rate of abuse in Indian River County is 17 children per 1 ,000 , which is lower than the state rate of abuse (20 children per 1 ,000) but higher than the national average ( 12 children per thousand) . " In conclusion , the data show that 1 ) home based parent education prevents abuse , 2) home based parent education helps children stay out of foster care (where they are more likely to be abused) , 3 ) Indian River County is doing better than the state at protecting its children , but worse when compared to national statistics , 4) with more home based parent education , Indian River County can make a significant impact in reducing the number of children abused . 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. There are no similar programs serving the population targeted for Safe Families . The other child abuse prevention programs in the county are Healthy Families and Family Builders and both serve different populations . The collaboration among these three programs creates a seamless system of caring for abused and neglected children . All age levels of children and all levels of risk to children are covered without duplication or overlap of services (see chart in appendix) . Despite this seamless system, the target population for Safe Families is underserved . This is evidenced by the fact that there is program space for only 65 families and yet 374 children had confirmed abuse . To date , the Safe Families program has received twice as many referrals as can be served this year. 5