COMMUNITIES
Independence
Coalition
for Child Safety; who we are and what we do….
The Independence community suffered the pain of loosing three
toddlers to child abuse in a period of less than 6 months in 2002.
In response to this tragic loss, Independence Health Department
called together the many community partners that serve and support
families. Thus the Coalition for Child Safety was born on July
31, 2002. Three years later, many community agencies continue to
support the ongoing work of the Coalition.
Our purpose is to foster the close communication and collaboration
that strengthens the community support of and response to families,
to raise awareness about issues related to child abuse, and to
provide education to the community as a whole.
This is accomplished by networking as a whole coalition, and by
using work groups to accomplish the objectives of the coalition.
A few of our projects are described on this website. The work groups
are:
- Community Education (includes Parents University)
- Promotion/Finance
- Prevention
With the initiation of Enough Abuse, our efforts will expand to
address the very specific issues surrounding child sexual abuse.
This we will do through educating and empowering children, youth,
parents, and the community and by putting into place the safeguards
that will reduce the incidence of child sexual abuse.
Enough is enough………….. We will protect
our children.
Projects and programs in the past three years include:
- Communication
protocol established between Children’s
Division and Independence Police Department to alert IPD when
an investigation is in progress so that officers responding to calls
at that address know to assess the safety of all children in
the home
- Keeping the Children Safe Fair
- Blue Ribbon Campaigns
- Blue Ribbon Bumper Magnet Campaign
Campaign to raise awareness as well as money for community education
projects
- City of Independence Employee education program
Nearly 200 City employees whose jobs place them in neighborhoods
and homes were trained to recognize dangerous situations/conditions
for children, and were instructed as to how to place
a hotline call. Accompanying materials were provided
- Parents’ University
(first annual event in 2005)
A ½ day workshop for parents of children from birth through
12th grade offering a wide variety of classes and
activities
Community Partners
- American Medical Response
- Bi-County United Way
- Caring Communities
- Child Abuse Prevention Association
- Children’s
Division
- Children’s
Trust Fund
- Community Services League
- Comprehensive Mental Health
- Family Conservancy
- Family Literacy Center
- Fort Osage School District
- Hawthorne Place Apartments
- Head Start
- Hope House
- Independence Fire Department
- Independence Health Department
- Independence Housing Authority
- Independence Police Department
- Independence Regional Health Center
- Independence School District
- Hillcrest Ministries
- Local Investment Commission
- Mark Smith Counseling
- Medical Center of Independence
- Midwest
Foster Care & Adoption
- Ministerial Alliance
- MO Department of Health and Senior Services
- Mothers Outraged at Molesters
- The City of Independence
- The Examiner
- TCM StartRight Teen Mom Mentoring
- Truman Heartland Community Foundation
- Northwest Community
Development
- Parents as Teachers
- Salvation Army
- Sunshine Center
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