Marion County Children Services

Written by Tabitha Clark, The Marion Star

SCHEDULE

Pinwheel Play Day

• 8:30 a.m. – Race registration opens
• 9:30 a.m. – Kids Fun Run
• 10 a.m. – Adult 5k Run/Walk
• 10 a.m. – Games, inflatables and concession stand opens
• 11:30 a.m. – “Our Community, Our Kids” Balloon launch
• 12 p.m. – Easter egg hunt begins

REGISTRATION FOR 5K

Registration for the BGC of Marion Adult 5k Run/Walk:

• Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. with the race at 10 a.m.
• Residents can register online at premier races.com, at the Boys and Girls Club main office, 370 E. Mark St., or at any Fahey Bank branch office.
• Early registration is $20. Registration the day of the race is $25.

For information, contact Director Allison Miracle at 740-387-3462 or allison@bgcmarion.org.

MARION – On Saturday, 679 pinwheels will be placed on the lawn at Marion County Children Services as part of the 5th Annual Pinwheel Play Day. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Marion County Children Services.

“The pinwheels serve as a visual reminder of child maltreatment in the community,” said Jacqueline Ringer, director of Marion County Children Services.

She said the event gives families a chance to relax and have fun.

“It just provides the community with a free family fun day. That’s important to us, too.”

Ringer said Children Services has worked with other agencies to bring the event together. The agency collaborated with the Boys and Girls Club of Marion County, the First Church of the Nazarene and Clear Channel.

“During the whole day, we will have the Pinwheel Play Day with inflatables, stations for the kids, and information for the parents.”

There will be an “Our Community, Our Kids” balloon launch at 11:30 a.m., and the Easter egg hunt, sponsored by Clear Channel, will start at noon.

One part of the event will be the Adult 5k Run/Walk fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Marion County.

Allison Miracle said the collaboration with Children Services was perfect because the BGC understands the importance of keeping Marion’s youths safe.

“The Club serves close to 600 youth a year, and we are mandated reporters,” Miracle said.

“We support bringing awareness to the needs of Marion’s children and the services that Children Services provides.”

Registration for the 5k starts at 8:30 a.m. with the race beginning at 10 a.m.

“Our route will begin and end at Children Services,” said Miracle, “It is 3.16 miles. The police will be on hand to watch out for the well-being of the runners.”

There will be awards given out for the overall top male and female, and the top male and female in each age group.

The race will be chip-timed to accurately record every participant’s time.

Miracle said Modern Woodmen of America is doing a match up to $2,500 for the fundraiser, and as of Tuesday, there were already 100 racers registered.

There will also be a Kids Fun Run starting at 9:30 a.m. That race is free, and there is no registration.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has selected Marion County Children Services in the 2012 expansion of Ohio’s Differential Response Program. Based on the results of a successful Supreme Court of Ohio and ODJFS pilot project, the recently enacted state budget bill requires a plan for the statewide expansion of the Differential Response Program. The recent competitive application process resulted in selection of seven counties to participate in the next phase of the project’s expansion – Marion, Allen, Belmont, Clinton, Lake, Stark, and Vinton – bringing the number of participating counties to 40.

Ohio’s Differential Response system provides two pathways recognizing the varied nature of reports and offering the opportunity to respond differentially through either a traditional response or an alternative response. Currently, Marion County Children Services completes traditional response investigations on all accepted child abuse and neglect referrals. Traditional response can be considered adversarial in nature with use of “victim” and “perpetrator” labels and the determination of fault. The investigation process requires a significant amount of time and attention obtaining the specifics of the reported incident. While some cases are transferred to another caseworker for ongoing services due to the high level of risk of future maltreatment, the majority of investigations are closed with recommendations and referrals made to service providers in order to address areas of need. However, upon case closure it is the family’s discretion to follow-through with the services recommended by the caseworker or not.

Alternative response emphasizes creating a working partnership among families and child welfare and community agencies. It focuses on identifying concerns and finding solutions, not on assigning blame, finding fault, gathering evidence or applying negative labels. Alternative response allows caseworkers to work jointly with families to identify and use their strengths to address their concerns and to make certain that they and their children are, and can remain, safe. Addressing family-identified concerns and needs and using agency and community resources to support family are key elements in the service design. Families may voluntarily remain open through the collaborative development of a family service plan to accomplish goals identified by the family.

It is important to recognize that alternative response is neither better than, nor supplants, the need for and use of traditional response. Traditional response will always be the preferred pathway for all reports which could result in potential criminal charges and/or is necessary to determine whether serious incidents of child maltreatment occurred. Also, alternative response is not outreach or diversion programming. Child abuse and neglect reports assigned alternative response must meet the threshold of law required for Marion County Children Services intervention.

In this first year of implementation, Marion County Children Services will primarily target reports of child neglect for the alternative response. The agency recognizes the importance of continuity of services. By adopting the one-worker one-family model, families will be further benefited by the established trust and rapport of the existing caseworker and family relationship. The caseworker initially assigned will remain with the family through the life of the alternative response case.

Ohio first piloted alternative response in 2008 and the results shows better outcomes for not only children and families but local communities as well. By working jointly with the family, caseworkers were able to successfully link them to social service programs that might meet their needs. Families that received an alternative response approach were more likely to report that they were very satisfied with treatment by their workers. In addition, agencies experienced the reduction of children requiring foster care placement and subsequent reports of child maltreatment, resulting in long-term cost savings to the community. More importantly, child safety was not compromised.

The results are consistent with a comparable study on alternative response in Minnesota. Many other states have found – and Ohio’s early results indicate – that Differential Response helps keep families together by engaging families in services and reducing the level of intervention necessary to keep children safe. “Differential Response helps keep families together, which leads to better outcomes and happier children,” said ODJFS Director Michael Colbert. “It fundamentally changes the way we do business and allows us and our county partners to provide a better service to children and families at a lower cost to taxpayers.”

Steve Hanson, manager of the Supreme Court’s Children, Families and the Courts Programs, said the benefits of the program also extend to the court system. “Some families require the full attention of the court system to ensure the safety of children and oversee the family’s response to services. Differential Response helps reduce court dockets allowing judges to give greater attention to those families that require formal court involvement.”

Complete results and evaluation of the initial AR pilot can be found in the Executive Summary Report on our website. Marion County Children Services will begin implementation of Differential Response on April 1, 2012. The agency invites you to learn more about it’s efforts by attending a Community Forum on April 24th from 8:00am-10:00am in the Guthery Room of Morrill Hall at The Ohio State University at Marion. Please contact Ruth Johnson at 740-389-SAFE to reserve your seating for the event.

Article written by: Anna Tinnerello, Intake/Assessment Supervisor, MCCS

I’m going to begin my letter with a true story that may leave you wondering what this has to do with November being Adoption Awareness Month.  Hopefully by the time I close, it will come together.

This past spring, my children and I decided we wanted to adopt a kitten from our local animal shelter, after passing their sign every day advertising a need for good homes. Upon arriving, I was told there were approximately 700 kittens alone that come through the shelter every spring. After looking in the eyes of many, I found a kitten I could not break my gaze away from. After the attendant allowed me to hold her, she instantly started purring madly and hugging me tightly. I could barely put her down in order to fill out the application and pay a reasonable adoption fee. Two days later she was ours! Being too young to receive her sterilization surgery at the time of her adoption, I had to make an appointment to bring her back in 8 weeks. So, as scheduled, I bring her back in for her appointment. While dropping her off, I stated to the attendant, “I’m glad we’re getting this taken care of, I think I saw the neighbor cat prowling around.” The attendant’s head WHIPS UP, and she says to me, “WHY WAS THE CAT OUTSIDE?” So, after that tongue lashing, I stutter, “Well, well…she’s a cat and she likes to go outside and play and get fresh air too??!!”  At that point I was PROMPTLY told their cats are indoor friends only, and if I was going to continue to allow my cat outdoors, I would have to bring her back.

Being a mom to 3 adopted children, I’ve thought a lot about this scenario.  Number one, wouldn’t it be WONDERFUL if we could pass a sign daily, reminding people of the number of children who are adequately taken care of, but still, not part of a PERMANENT loving family? I’ve often thought, as a society, we have more “animal rights” awareness, than we do “children’s rights” awareness. It seems to me, we have become a society of being too politically correct, and it makes people uncomfortable to think about children not having loving, permanent homes. So as I think of my beautiful pure white cat with one blue eye and one green eye, who is very loved, overfed, and who, yes, goes outside to play as she wishes, I’m reminded that while I’m not the perfect parent to my cat, there is NO DOUBT, she has HER perfect life.

And if you believe that you can’t make a difference in a child’s life, you are wrong. Where there is a will, there is a way! The resources are out there, to give you the tools to be successful. My best advice is start by contacting Marion County Children Services. They can best advise and educate you on the process of fostering and adopting and get you started.

Yes indeed, Kitty and I sleep well at night.  I know there is ONE LESS homeless lost Kitty “in the system.”

I hope upon reflection, it was obvious I used the story of my adopted kitten, to convey the thought; you do NOT have to be perfect, to be the perfect parent.

Jodi Fidler is a foster and adoptive parent with Marion County Children Services. Potential parents are reminded that children in foster care don’t need perfection; they need the commitment and love a “forever family” can provide.  To learn more contact the Placement Unit at 740-389-2317. Or visit www.marionkids.com.        

                                                                                                                

MARION — A new family was the center of attention at the Marion County Board of Commissioners meeting Thursday.

The family was to grow with the adoption of four Marion County foster children that would be concluded later in the day.

An emotional Candice thanked Marion County Children Services and commissioners for making their dreams come true through the adoption process that started three years ago.

“I can say for myself and my husband that this is one of the most special days that we are ever going to experience,” she said. “Since the kids came into our life 7 1/2 months ago … we hit the ground running.”

“And we’re still going,” said her husband, John.

“They want to be with us, so we want to have them,” his wife said.

Children services employees attended the meeting to accept a proclamation observing Marion County’s participation in National Adoption Awareness Month in November.

There are more than 3,000 children in Ohio in the foster system,

Cheryl Bowers, placement supervisor, said nine children have been adopted from foster homes in Marion County this year, and five more are in line to be adopted. There are 32 foster-family homes in Marion County.

There are many things that go into making a family, Bowers said. “So, you don’t have to be a perfect parent, but you do need to offer commitment and love to make that “forever family” each child deserves.

The crowd applauded as the family – with the four children in attendance – was recognized.

“It’s going to make a big difference in a lot of people’s lives what you are going to do here,” Commissioner Dan Russell said as he looked toward the children, ages 4, 5, 8 and 9.

 

Written by James Steven, Assistant Editor
Marion Star

(Edited by MCCS)

Very few people believe that someone they love or trust could ever hurt their child. But it happens. In 2009, a study, published in the August issue of Pediatrics found that 83% of beating/shaking injuries causing the death of a child were at the hands of mother’s partner. Far too often a child is abused or even killed when left in the care of a parent’s partner, which is why Marion County Children Services is launching a new campaign urging parents to get to know a person before they let them around their children.

The Choose Your Partner Carefully campaign is developed to create awareness of the risk children face when a non-related caregiver is entrusted with their care. Many non-biological partners have no relationship or commitment to the child. They are primarily interested in their own romantic involvement with the parent and become irritated when problems with the child arise. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the common circumstances for a child’s death are the child being at home, being alone with the mother’s partner, and crying. It is imperative that parents realize that when they choose a partner for themselves, they are choosing one for their child too!

Informational brochures are being distributed throughout the community that provide a self assessment tool to help parents better evaluate the likelihood that their partner could become a perpetrator of abuse, as well as educate them on community resources.

The most prevalent family conditions identified during the 2010 child abuse or neglect investigations completed by Marion County Children Services were economic problems and single head of household. Many of these parents lack childcare but need to work in order to make ends meet. Instead of seeking a qualified childcare center or person to care for their child, parents are leaving them with their partners. Not only do the partners often times have no relationship with the child; they have even less patience and maturity than the parent.

Sometimes, when we are in love, we can miss the warning signs. The following are a few questions parents should ask themselves about their partner before allowing them to be around their child.

Does your partner:

• Show anger or impatience when your child cries or has a tantrum?
• Call your child bad names or put him down?
• Think it is funny to scare your child?
• Make all decisions for you and your child?
• Tell you that you are a bad parent or that you should not have your kids?
• Pretend that when he/she hurts your child that you are to blame or that it’s no big deal?
• Tell you that your child is a nuisance?
• Have a criminal history?
• Abuse drugs, alcohol or prescription medication?
• Get violent or controlling with you?

If you answered yes to even one of these questions, your child might be at risk. Parents should never leave their child with someone they don’t trust with their child’s life. Your child is counting on you to make the right decision!

The Choose Your Partner Campaign not only helps parents recognize potential warning signs of abuse but informs them about additional community resources for childcare that they may be unaware of such as the Marion County Job and Family Services at 740-387-8560 or Boys and Girls Club at 740-387-3462.

Parents are encouraged to contact Marion County Children Services to obtain more information about the campaign and/or referral to community resources.

If you or your organization is interested in participating with the campaign, please contact Terrie Robinson at 740-386-0452 and/or review our information tools on our website at www.marionkids.com.