CHILDREN SERVICES

Children Services, funded by a combination of federal, state, and local  dollars provides a full continuum of services for children and families, including assessment of child abuse and neglect allegations; protective services to in tact families; substitute care, including foster care, group home care, and residential treatment; and adoption.  Woven throughout all these programs are supportive services aimed at providing safety and permanence for children.

We are the mandated agency to receive and investigate allegations of known or suspected child abuse and neglect.  Our Intake Unit is made up of social workers who are responsible for that process.  The rights of parents and children must be protected, as safety and permanency are sought. The name and identity of the reporter are, according to Ohio law, confidential, and are not revealed to the subject of the investigation by the agency.  If a report is made in good faith, a reporter can not be held civilly or criminally liable if the report turns out to be unfounded. 

Sometimes, a situation referred to the agency is not abuse or neglect, but is one which would benefit from some type of service.  Such matters are referred to the SSIR program  (Social Services, Information and Referral).  The SSIR worker provides supportive services, and helps folks access needed information and services within the community.

In cases where risk is serious, the agency may file a charge in the juvenile court seeking protective supervision, court ordered services aimed at stabilizing the family.  In cases of imminent risk, the agency may seek an order of custody which would remove the child from the family. 

Throughout the life of a case with the agency, we must consider two principles: “best interests” means that we must always have the child’s best interests at the heart of any action we may pursue.  In considering removing a child from his family, for example, we must examine whether the risk of harm of removal is greater than, or less than, the risk of leaving the child in the home.  “Least restrictive” means keeping the child in the least restrictive environment possible; his own family is the least restrictive, a relative or non-related significant other is next, a foster home, next, then a group home and finally a residential facility which may be a locked facility.  If a child is at risk of removal from his own home, the agency is obligated to seek relative resources.  If none can be located, and the child enters the agency’s custody, that search continues throughout the life of a case.

Our family based practice focuses on keeping families together whenever possible, and reuniting them as early as possible when they have required separation. 

The Ongoing Units are made up of workers who work with those families for whom an ongoing need has been established.  These include protective cases, those which are intact families; and placement cases; those in which the child has entered some type of substitute care.  Some risk factors present here in Columbiana County in many of our cases include poverty; substandard living conditions; teen parenting; substance abuse; and domestic violence. 

Resource families include all foster and adoptive families.  The Resource Unit workers are responsible for coordinating the training for these parents, including a series of pre-service classes, which provide prospective foster and adoptive parents with information about the types of children and the types of behaviors they may encounter in the roles as foster or adoptive parents.  Ongoing training is also required, for as long as folks continue in the program. 

Adoption assessors in the resource unit complete certifications, annual home visits, and re-certifications, on all foster and adoptive families. This process ensures that the agency and the families are in compliance with Ohio statute, and promotes identification of strengths, interests, training needs, and long term goals of the resource families.  Retention of current resources is a high priority of the agency, along with recruitment and development of new resources.

The resource unit is also home to the agency’s Independent Living Program.  Ohio statute requires independent living services for all youth in custody who are 16 to 18 years of age.  These services are intended to prepare youth for life n the adult world and include instruction and activities intended to increase knowledge and build skills which will be needed when the youth emancipate.   This unit also houses the home study staff whose specialty is conducting home studies for resources other than foster or adoptive parents. 

Children Services staff work collaboratively with other local child serving agencies to assist families in their efforts to provide safe and stable homes for their children.