October 7, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
We Are In This Together: Community Child Protection in America chronicles the effectiveness of “community child-protection partnerships” that have cropped up in the United States to bolster overall child welfare. These partnerships — which unite parents, local and religious groups, businesses, government agencies, and schools — work to protect children from abuse and to help them and their parents overcome poverty. Along with outlining state-financed efforts in Michigan and Hawaii, the publication summarizes a program of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation that has supported child-safety projects in four cities since 1995. In Jacksonville, Fla., for example, concerned citizens can sign contracts promising to look in on at-risk children regularly (with permission from local child-services agencies) to make sure the kids and their parents are getting the help they need. The authors write that privately financed programs will increase as the federal government shifts more money to states, because states will need the experience of non-profit groups and citizens to run child-protection programs. Publisher: Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, New York 10177-0026; (212) 551-9100; fax (212) 986-4558; 27 pages; free.
