CAPE'S CARING COUNCIL A MODEL OF COOPERATION

Turnout for the third annual Community Caring Conference held Friday in Cape Girardeau proves a point: State Rep. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau hit upon a genuine need to promote coordination and cooperation between social, educational and business programs when she founded the Community Caring Council in 1989.

A crowd of about 150 people gathered at the Show Me Center to discuss accomplishments and goals of the council, which has grown to include representatives from 38 groups, all concerned with providing the best available services to those in need. Friday's conference, which focused on youths at risk, included discussions on teenage pregnancy, alcohol- and other drug-abuse prevention, the Women's Safe House, and the Parents as Teachers program.

The council considers helping young people in need among its priorities, and three accomplishments toward that end deserve mentioning. In the short time since the council's formation, it has established a cooperative agreement with all major child-service agencies that led to a team of staff members of the agencies working on complex cases involving children; a Court Appointed Special Advocates program, which, when appropriate, provides advocates for children to work as liaisons between the courts, social agencies and parents in an effort to best serve the interests of children; and a day treatment program for emotionally disturbed or behavior-disordered children.

These programs and others are in keeping with the council's overall purposes of helping people in need gain access to services that can help them and developing procedures that enable individuals and families to become more self-reliant. At times, knowing where to go for help is the most difficult part of achieving self-reliance. Through its developing programs, the council makes that task easier.

As was pointed out at the conference, because pregnant teen-agers stand a high risk of dropping out of school, a program has been established at Central High School that features a staff person serving as a mentor to a pregnant student in an effort to keep the girl in school. Another program is being developed through a caring network group to provide pregnant teenagers and teen parents information about services available to them. A series of workshops for teenagers to discuss parenting skills is also planned.

Kasten and all involved in the effort are to be commended for the unique approach they have taken in Cape Girardeau to help those in need. The program has been recognized as a model for the state.

We have no doubt that as the council develops more programs, it will indeed become a model for other caring councils around the state. It truly demonstrates what can be accomplished when people join hands to help others.