SAN ANTONIO — Over the past couple of years there have been some high profile child abuse cases, shining a light on the issue here in San Antonio.
Now there is talk about a crisis nursery, which would relieve families in times of stress. City leaders say the idea could save children from abuse and even death.
“What we’ve seen is that families who find themselves in some sort of crisis, often will perpetrate child neglect, or child abuse,” said District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez.
Pelaez says there are many factors that contribute to child abuse like substance abuse or domestic violence.
“It’s not a stand alone problem. The idea behind a crisis nursery is that you provide a very low barrier, temporary nursery services to moms and dads who require an immediate place to drop off their kids, while they deal with their own crisis,” said Pelaez.
In addition to a safe place for children, the nursery would also help with access to resources and education. Pelaez says there is nothing like this in San Antonio, where a mother could drop off her child when dad’s been drinking.
“I hate saying this, but often times domestic violence victims know that that one night is going to be particularly difficult compared to others. So that’s this crisis nursery would be available, around the clock for moms experiencing something like that,” said Pelaez.
District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha-Garcia says with a lot of domestic violence cases in the city, council did a study on the impacts on women and girls.
“So we have a whole lot of data, basically that shows that there’s a need for specifically children to have a safe place to g,” said Rocha-Garcia.
Rocha-Garcia hopes this proposal will bring experts on domestic violence and child welfare together to find a solution.
“So this is initially just a conversation starter. How do we get to that place, where we can help out children who we know are vulnerable?” asked Rocha-Garcia.
Both Pelaez and Garcia-Rocha say they hope to find a location that’s easily accessible to parents.
“We know that other cities have had success with this. My goal here is to research what those other cities have done that have led them to that success and adopt best practices from around the county,” said Pelaez.
There would be no cost to parents dropping off their children during a crisis.
Rocha-Garcia says there would need to be a feasibility study to find where the funding would come from, including possible partnerships with other organizations.
