CRISIS NURSERY PROGRAM OPEN IN CAPE

When parents are arrested for drug trafficking, often their young children are along for the ride.

When parents end up hospitalized after a traffic accident, young children sometimes have nowhere to go.

Parents who are going through drug and alcohol treatment programs may need someone to temporarily take care of their children.

The Family Counseling Center hopes to address such needs in the Cape Girardeau area with its new Crisis Nursery.

The program began Tuesday. It is patterned after the counseling center's Crisis Nursery program in Pemiscot, Dunklin and New Madrid counties.

The program provides temporary care for children, ages birth to 10 years. In special cases, children are taken up to age 13.

Margaret Clayton coordinates the three-year-old Crisis Nursery program from her Caruthersville office.

She was in Cape Girardeau Tuesday to help launch the service in this area. The program will operate out of the Family Counseling Center's Cape Girardeau office.

The center, which also counsels people battling alcohol and drug addictions, has an office in Kennett and plans to open one in Dexter next week.

Unlike court-ordered foster care, the Crisis Nursery program is voluntary and the care is short-term, anywhere from 24 hours to 30 days.

Parents agree in writing to put their children in the temporary care of foster parents.

Clayton said the program works closely with law enforcement and social service agencies.

Last month, the Crisis Nursery provided temporary care in various Bootheel foster homes for nine children, including three children whose parents were arrested for drug trafficking.

In fiscal year 1996, which ended June 30, the program provided care for 74 children in Pemiscot, Dunklin and New Madrid counties.

Single parents and parents going through divorces often don't have relatives they can rely on to take temporary care of their children.

"These people don't have anyone else to turn to," Clayton said.

In most cases, it is social service agencies that refer parents to the Crisis Nursery.

The parents don't want to lose their children to long-term foster care, Clayton said. "A lot of them will say, `Are you sure I am going to get my kids back?'"

The answer, said Clayton, is yes.

She said she only has had one incident where children were taken permanently from a parent. In that case, the foster parent noticed physical evidence of child abuse and contacted authorities.

The Family Counseling Center's Larry Holdman said every effort is made in the Crisis Nursery program to keep the child in the same school district that he or she had been attending.

The Crisis Nursery program operates on a $60,000-a-year budget. The money comes from the Missouri Department of Social Services, Division of Family Affairs.

Brenda Puchbauer manages the Crisis Nursery in Cape Girardeau. She can be reached at 573-651-4177 or through the hotline number, 1-800-356-5395.