St. Louis Crisis Nursery Keeps Kids Safe 24/7, No Matter What Life Throws At Their Parents

St. Louis Public Radio | By Sarah Fenske | April 14, 2021

“Thirty-five years ago, the St. Louis Crisis Nursery opened its doors — and it hasn’t closed them since.

For 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, nursery staff welcome children in need of care due to factors like homelessness, illness or extreme parental stress. By keeping them for two to five days at a time, without cost to families, the nursery keeps the children safe and reunites them with their parents when conditions improve.

It also works to improve those conditions. On site, kids get medical exams, trauma-informed care and art and play therapy. Parents receive crisis counseling and take-home necessities, as well as follow-up visits and group support. In its 3½ decades of service, the nursery has grown to five 24/7 locations and 10 additional outreach centers serving a swath of the region from Wentzville to East St. Louis.

Molly Brown started with the organization as an intake counselor 21 years ago and now serves as its senior clinical director. With parents dropping off kids, “we would sit down and we would listen and we would set goals and we would problem-solve and provide support and love and care,” she explained on Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air. “And when that family came to pick up, I would get to meet with them again.

“And to see a mom who walks through the door of the crisis nursery with her head down, maybe not making eye contact and feeling like in the middle of this crisis, she’s all alone, caring for her little ones,” she continued, “and to see her come back to pick them up, maybe some of those resources have worked out. Maybe they found a place to go. Maybe some of that stress has been relieved by the connections that she’s made and the break that they’ve had. And to see her walk in with her head high, and excited to see her kids again, those are some of the proud moments of getting to work as an intake counselor.””

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