Indicator Maps & Tables

Critical Issues, Key Leaders, & Community Action

It is critical for families to provide adequate support and proper direction for their children.  That nurturing and guidance is central to the well-being of children, families and the broader community. To ensure children are provided with proper family support, public policies and private sector initiatives must have two goals: 1) assisting and strengthening families in their efforts to meet the needs of their children; and 2) making alternative provision to meet the fundamental needs of children when families fail them.  Since publication of the 2003 CMSL report, there has been little public sector action to strengthen families and ensure that every child lives in an environment where their fundamental needs can be met.  In fact, the evidence suggests we have actually lost ground in helping families meet the fundamental life needs of their children.  Federal, state, and local programs to assist families have, for the most, part been cut, and private and volunteer sector resources have proven insufficient to fill the gaps.  In Missouri, major reductions in financial assistance and support services for adoptive families now make it more difficult for many children to find stable, nurturing homes where their basic life needs can be met.

Citizens were responsible for a very positive development -- running counter to the trend of devoting fewer resources to addressing the needs of children and families – when they voted in November 2004 to establish Community Children’s Services Funds in the City of St. Louis and St. Charles and Jefferson counties.  In the City of St. Louis, the funds will be administered by the Mental Health Board of Trustees with 30 percent of the funds -- about $2 million -- earmarked to support families in raising their children and connecting to needed services.

It is essential that communities assist parents in need in providing proper support and guidance for their children, and, to the extent possible, ensure the fundamental needs of children are met when families fail in that obligation.  If communities do not take such steps, it will result in the well-being of many young people being undermined and the overall quality of community life being diminished.  Current critical issues related to provision of family support for St. Louis area children include the following: