Scioto County Children Services Family-Centered, Neighborhood-Based Services As part of the strategic planning process, the director and the agency have decided to implement a change in child welfare practice. This change is based on the Family to Family initiative as proposed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a philanthropic agency devoted to improving the lives of children. The Family to Family philosophy is grounded in seven core outcomes that will serve children and families better. The seven outcomes are: A reduction in the number of children served in institutional and congregate (group) care. A shift of resources from congregate and institutional care to family foster care and family-centered services across all child and family serving systems. A decrease in the lengths of stay in out-of-home placement. An increase in the number of planned reunifications. A decrease in the number of unplanned re-entries into care. A decrease in the number of placement disruptions. A reduction in the total number of children served away from their own families. Finally, as a result of the reform, family foster care services should also become neighborhood resources for children and families, investing in the capacity of communities from which the children are currently coming into care. The basic values that are the foundation of the FCNB services approach to care include: Children have a right to grow up with their family Children have the right to be nurtured and protected in a stable family environment When children are at risk of harm, the community has the responsibility to intervene Families are our community's most important resource and therefore must be respected, valued and encouraged to build on their existing strengths The community must support families in raising and caring for their children The racial, cultural and ethnic heritage of families, and the neighborhoods where they live, must be supported and seen as assets. Integrating this philosophy into the agency's operations will require a change in practice for workers and will require several years for full implementation. To assist in the integration and implementation of Family-Centered, Neighborhood-Based Service delivery, four key areas have been identified that have assisted pilot counties in their service delivery change. The four key areas are: Creating local self evaluation teams Partnering with neighborhoods, especially those with the highest rates of referrals and/or child removals Partnering with foster care providers Partnering with public and private service providers Scioto County Children Services is currently working on the plan for integration using the four key initiatives as a guide. As part of the integration process, the Intake/Assessment Unit and the Protective Services/Substitute Care Unit have assigned their caseworkers to geographical areas in the county. This allows the caseworkers and the communities they serve to become more familiar with one another. The county is divided into four areas with workers assigned from each department. Following is a list of the areas and the assigned workers: Area Assessment Worker Protective Services/ Substitute Care Worker County West Jim Hadinger Bill Denton County North Linda Brown Renee Dingess County East/ New Boston Judy Westley Deborah Handshoe Portsmouth Alice Bauer & Jennifer Hagen Karen Dailey Several workers from each department continue to handle a specialized caseload. All sexual abuse assessments are handled by Kathy Sharp, with assistance from local law enforcement officers. Unruly/delinquent youth who live in the county and receive services from the agency have their cases managed by Patty Crabtree. Gail Trone provides the same services to unruly/delinquent youth who reside in Portsmouth. Pam Hensley acts as the Court Liaison at Juvenile Court for the agency and works at diverting unruly/delinquent youth from entering the agency's custody. For more information regarding Family-Centered, Neighborhood-Based Services, please contact the FCNB Coordinator, Angela Reed at 456-4164. Economic Development | Info & Statistics | Events & Attractions Our County & Communities | News | Contacts | Home Free JavaScripts provided by The JavaScript Source © 1998-02 Scioto County Government. All rights reserved.