The year of 2009 was filled with learning and discovery for both the families we serve and for agency staff. On a Wednesday morning, it is most common to be greeted with the tantalizing smells of home cooked food in the agency hallways as Dorothy Staaf, Parent Education Facilitator, or her parent “assistant”, prepares lunch for the parent education class. The Parent Education Program is designed to improve the parent-child relationship and enhance parenting skills. It is an eight-week series of classes offered six times per year presenting such topics as: meal planning and preparation, homemaking, budgeting, self-esteem, child health care, child development, discipline, substance abuse and its impact on children and families, fire and poison safety, and enjoying your child. At the conclusion of each class, families come together to enjoy good food and fellowship and to put into practice through discussion and example the skills and techniques learned in the program.

The Family Services Department puts into practice the agency mission by working with community partners to protect children and preserve families. One such initiative includes representatives from Mahoning County Juvenile Court, Family Service Agency, Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic, Meridian Services, Mahoning County Children Services, and disciplines of the legal system coming together to comprise the Family Dependency Treatment Court facilitated by Magistrate Donna McCollum. The goal of this collaborative is to provide immediate and comprehensive substance abuse and/or mental health treatment for parents to stabilize and strengthen families.

Finally, in response to a need for staff training on the legal process in cases of child abuse, neglect and dependency and guidance to court preparation and testimony, an in-house presentation was developed. With the assistance of Attorneys Lori Shells and Thomas Infante, and the support of very talented agency staff, the zany mock trial written by Chief Supervisor Brad Price, “The Beat Goes On: The Farkle Family Saga” was performed. Together, the audience and cast made their way through the Farkle family’s “reality” of the child welfare and legal systems. Throughout this play were identified “teachable moments” as well as power point training on the “Supreme Court of Ohio Dependency Docket” outline for court preparation and testimony. Sometimes the best training is one researched, outlined, and facilitated by the agency’s own staff!

The Family Services Department casework and supervisory staff initiate services by engaging families to actively participate in the development of their case plan. They identify what is important to healthy family functioning and take action to achieve these goals. In 2009, the Family Services Department provided services to 561 families. Out of the approximately 1,100 children served by this department, only 174 children on average per month were in foster care placement. These figures clearly demonstrate our commitment to keep children, when possible, within their own family systems.

When services to support and empower families cannot protect children in their own homes, placement with extended family or kin may be required. Such least restrictive placements maintain continuity for children and preserve important relationships. In 2009, 135 commitments to relative/kin families took place. In those rare occasions where parents are unable or do not wish to reunify their families, and no relatives or kin are available, permanent custody of the child(ren) may be obtained. In 2009, the Family Services Department was granted permanent custody of 18 children with the power of adoption and accepted the permanent surrender of one child. Notable is the fact that Department staff participated in 996 court hearings throughout 2009.