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Our Mission :
 The mission of the Exchange Club-Carl
Perkins Center is to provide support to families in
preventing and dealing with child abuse in West Tennessee,
and help both parents and children meet the practical needs
of preserving and improving the quality of family life.
The Center's services put families back together and
literally save the lives of children. Currently, 60% of the
clients receiving services are referred by the Department of
Children Services and involve cases in which abuse has
already occurred. These services are provided under a
coordination agreement with the Department of Children
Services, and are often provided in the homes of the family
in order to address the problem in the setting in which it
occurs. Of the remaining cases, the referrals are from
Juvenile Court, school systems, and self referrals.
The services include, crisis intervention, group and
individual counseling, parenting classes, supervised
visitation, a volunteer parent aide/super friend program, a
24 hour crisis hot line & emergency services, relative care
giver program, clothing items, a food pantry, and programs
designed to increase community awareness about child abuse
and the services of the Center. The objective is to break
the cycle of abuse now and for future generations, thus
treating the cause rather than the symptoms of the problem.
During the past year, 16,209 individuals of those 9,808
were children that
were served by the Center. It is often showcased as a model
center and is the largest of its kind in the nation.
More
important than size, however, is the effectiveness of the
programs.
Of all the cases served by the Center, less than
5% have ever had to be re-opened because of child abuse.
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