Continuing the "Best Of" series we began last month with Issues and Insights, we move on to revisiting top "Who's Doing What That Works" stories published in the last six months.

Note, please, that all these stories have a very local, on-the-ground flavor. They are, in every sense, community-based interventions that have rescued children of all ages, including those who have "aged out" of foster care.

Our recent story about Sandra Elders, a 30-year-old mother with two young boys and a family in crisis during a difficult divorce, focused on how she was able to retain her sanity and the safety of her children through the intervention of the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery.

But the larger story and the greater significance of the piece was in the last paragraph of the article from the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader. Note, please, that 99% of the youth served by the group are not taken from their homes and are not reported as abused or neglected. They simply do not end up in the children's system.

Now that is what we mean by "Real People, Real Results."

The impact of these "Who's Doing What that Works" stories cannot be fully appreciated without reading what we call the "Runback" to the story.

So we implore: While all our stories make it easier for the reader to get through to the essence of the matter covered, don't stop after you have read a human-interest lead. Click through to the quantitative results. See how many times and how many at-risk children are benefited.

You know our perspective: The unsung heroes in child advocacy are to be found on the local turf, community by community, where the multiplier effect (link to site) in saving or losing children is huge. This is where the battle on child abuse and neglect is really joined.

As you read our "Best of" selections in this issue, you'll see that we went to the back-of-the-story to bring what works into sharp relief.

-Hershel Sarbin