LOCAL GROUP PLANS TO TACKLE CHILD ABOUSE AND NEGLECT WITH $34,000 GRANT

Fueled by $34,667 in money from the Children's Trust Fund in Missouri, a local organization plans to set up a crisis care center for infants.

State Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, announced the funding at a Thursday afternoon press conference at the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center.

The money will go to the PARENT Project. PARENT is an acronym for "Parenting, Accessing Resources: Enabling and Nurturing Teens."

PARENT has a five-member staff, funded by the trust fund money provided by Missouri's taxpayers. The staff began working about two weeks ago.

The project is being run by the Teen Pregnancy and Responsibility Network of Cape Girardeau County. The group of representatives from various health and social services agencies has been in existence since 1986, but has operated with private donations and volunteer efforts.

The group has opened an office in the Scully Building at Southeast Missouri State University. The school is donating office space and equipment.

The $34,000 will also provide for parenting classes for teenage parents and other efforts to address the problems of teen-age pregnancy, and child abuse and neglect.

Shelba Branscum, a Southeast Missouri State University professor, helped secure funding for the project.

She said Thursday that PARENT Project officials are talking with one of the Cape Girardeau hospitals about setting up an infant crisis care center. Such a center could be in operation within a month.

There currently is no emergency center where infants can be taken by parents or social workers in case of a family crisis. The Missouri Division of Family Services places children in individual homes when such situations arise.

But Branscum said there is a need to have a safe haven for infants, to get them away from situations of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect.

Kasten said there is a vital need to address child abuse and teen-age pregnancy in this area.

The Cape County office of the Division of Family Services receives about 39 reports of child abuse and neglect each month.

"Child abuse and neglect is just an awesome and awful activity and we all know that," said Kasten.

There are currently 109 children in foster care in Cape County.

In Southeast Missouri, teen-age pregnancy affects one out every four girls under the age of 16. Many of them get pregnant again within a year.

Kasten and Branscum said it makes sense to address the problems of teen-age pregnancy up front rather than have to address costly social problems later.

In 1990, the federal government spent $25 billion on Medicaid and Aid to Families with Dependent Children payments to teen-age parents.

Many teen-age parents drop out of school. Almost 70 percent of young mothers who give birth as teen-agers have incomes below the poverty level. Teen parents are more likely to be abusive to their children.

Branscum said that the fastest rise in teen pregnancies nationwide is occurring in the 11- to 13-year-old age group.

"We have the highest teen-age pregnancy rate of any country," said Branscum.