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The Resource Services Department is responsible for
overseeing the foster and adoption programs of Mahoning County
Children Services. This Department includes two Resource Units and the
agency’s Training Unit. It also houses the agency’s Independent Living
Program, the Community Education Specialist, and the Continuous
Quality Improvement Manager. Some of the services provided by the
Resource Services Department include: home study approval and
licensing of foster/adoptive parents, kinship home studies, adoption
preparation for children, ongoing supervision of foster homes and
adoptive placements, adoption finalization, crisis management, and
implementation and supervision of four adoption support programs.
Mahoning County currently has a total of 107 licensed foster parents
and 70 approved adoptive homes. Many families are dually approved to
foster and adopt. As of December 2008 there were a total of 128
children in foster home placement. All foster/adoptive candidates must
attend 33 hours of pre-service training prior to home study
completion. In preparation for a state mandate in 2009 to increase the
number pre-service training hours, the agency began offering 36 hours
of pre-service training in September 2008. Mahoning County Children
Services has an in-house trainer who provides the initial 36 hours of
training to prospective foster and adoptive parents. There were 10 new
foster homes licensed this year. All currently licensed foster parents
are required to attend 40 hours of training over a two year period.
The agency offered 20 foster parent trainings on-site for a total of
77 training hours. Thirty small group or individual trainings were
also done by the foster parent trainer.
The Resource Services Department is responsible for home study reports
at the request of other Ohio counties or for other states for Mahoning
County families who are interested in providing a home for a child who
lives in another state or county. The Department also provides
homestudies for other agency departments as well as the Kinship
Permanency Incentive Program.
New casework employees undergo an extensive training experience in the
Resource Services Department’s Training Unit. In the year 2008, there
were four new employees who were trained for casework positions. The
Training Unit also works cooperatively with Youngstown State
University to provide intern training for Bachelor of Social Work
candidates. During 2008 there were two YSU Bachelor of Social Work
interns supervised in the Training Unit.
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The Resource Department also houses the agency’s Community Education
Specialist, whose duties include presentations on foster and adoptive
parent recruitment events, mandated educator and daycare provider
training, informational presentations throughout the community,
presentations to children on child abuse prevention, and planning and
overseeing special community events. In 2008 the agency participated
in the third annual “Pinwheels for Prevention,” a statewide child
abuse awareness campaign. There were 21 mandated education personnel
and day care provider trainings completed with a total of 966
participants. There were 13 community education presentations reaching
over 500 community members and professionals. The agency participated
in six community health fairs for child abuse prevention and
foster/adoptive recruitment, reaching over 700 participants. In July
the agency collaborated with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers Baseball
for a community recruitment event attended by several thousand people.
The Independent Living Program strives to provide a continuum of
services to youth aged sixteen and older. The Independent Living
Coordinator meets with the youth both individually and in a group
setting to provide life skills training, job training, and
post-secondary education planning and preparation.
Four of these youth participate in the Ohio Youth Advisory Board, a
representative body of youth throughout the State who inform and
advise the State on youth matters. In September of 2008, one
participant, along with Independent Living Coordinator Anita
Wainwright, participated in a discussion with Ohio Governor Strickland
regarding the education system. He shared with the governor his dream
of attending college and asked the governor to consider a waiver
program for children in care to attend a state school. This waiver
program is now being considered on a statewide level.
For the year 2009, the Independent Living Program will embark on a new
partnership with community agencies to insure better service delivery
to our youth. There are currently 21 youth being served by the
Independent Living Program. At this time there are two youths
attending Youngstown State University from the Independent Living
Program.
The Continuous Quality Improvement Manager has the goal of monitoring
universal compliance to state and federal mandates. A compliance
review on agency functioning was completed in 2008, resulting in
identification of future goals for the agency to meet Child Protection
Oversight and Evaluation requirements.
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