Boone and Story County C.A.R.E.S.
Child Abuse Resource and Educational Services
Boone County C.A.R.E.S. organization started in 1983 with several concerned members of our community seeing the need for programs to prevent child abuse in our county as well as to inform the public about proper ways of tackling the hard parts of being a parent--discipline and safety of their children from the lurking pedophiles. The organization has come a long way from 1983 and has since merged with the Story county as of July 2016. Both counties' objectives are to increase prevention awareness, to strengthen children's knowledge about abuse, and to provide educational programs for children and adults.
Child Abuse in Iowa by Category, 2020
10,434 children subject to abuse or neglect
​
Denial of Critical Care 88%
Physical Abuse 11%
Presence of illegal drugs in Child's System 14%
Sexual Abuse 10%
Dangerous Substance 42%
​
48% of abused or neglected children were age 5 or younger.
Our goal as an organization is to expand our team approach to include the community at large in direct ongoing relationships with the people already served. We believe this is the missing link to enable people to break out of the cycle of poverty and welfare dependence. To decrease the involvement of child protective services and the struggles with substance abuse and incarceration as well as homelessness in our community. Our organization uses community engagement to bring together concerned citizens, entities, and other community groups to help in this great endeavor.
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
14,000
​
13,000
​
12,000
​
11,000
​
10,000
​
9,000
​
8,000
​
7,000
6,000
​
5,000
​
Number of Children Abused
11,236
11,562
11,463
10,434
8,892
*data provided by Prevent Child Abuse Iowa