FAMILIES AND CHILDREN FIRST … During the November 22, 2021 Monday morning session of the Williams County Commissioners, (front to back) Julie Voll, Fred Lord, Judge Karen Gallagher and Jennifer Basselman discussed the goals and needs of the Williams County Families and Children First council. Seated behind the dais are Commissioners Brian Davis, Terry Rummel and Lew Hilkert. (PHOTO BY REBECCA MILLER, STAFF)
By: Rebecca Miller
Julie Voll, WC “Family and Children First” (FCF) Council Coordinator, spoke first with the Williams County Commissioners during a special session attended by Voll, Director of Job and Family Service Fred Lord, WC Probate Juvenile Court Judge Karen Gallagher, and Board of Developmental Disabilities Superintendent Jennifer Basselman.
Ms. Voll gave a short history of Ohio FCF, explaining that it was begun by former Governor George Voinovich to assure family needs were being met, to avoid the duplication of agency services, to identify and fill gaps in services, all in an effort to reduce “out of home placements.”
When Ms. Voll came to Williams County, a year and one half ago, from 14 years working in Defiance, she met with agencies and discovered there were four different agencies offering parenting classes, and none of them were aware the others were doing so.
Her purpose is to help coordinate situations like that so that the wheel is not being reinvented continually. Service Coordination is one of the main services they offer, which helps families whose youth receive services from multiple agencies, to have better communication between the family and the agencies.
The agencies can then collaborate and meet the youth and family needs more efficiently. “Using this model helps families become more stable and ultimately reduces reliance on agency services,” she said.
Members of the WCFCF include, according to the Ohio Code 121.37, a. Family representatives, b. ADAMs Board, c. Board of Health, d. JFS, e. Is covered by JFS in WC, f. Board of DD, g. Superintendent of largest School District, so Bryan Schools Superintendent, h. School Superintendent representing all other schools and in our area that is NOESC – Northwest Ohio Educational Services Center, i. Municipal Corporation (City of Bryan) – Commissioner Terry Rummel said that Mayor Carrie Schlade is ready to plug back into the council., J. Board of Commissioners (Terry Rummel is the representative), k. Dept. of Youth Services (state corrections authority, ours is out of Toledo), l. Head Start, m. Representative from Early Intervention program, n. Representative of a local non profit entity and WC has Maumee Valley Guidance Center.
There can be other interested parties or agencies. Voll said they are currently working to make connections with each of these.
To clarify what OFCF is NOT, Ms. Voll said it is not a means to direct funding, which is a normal misunderstanding. They do receive lots of calls from people looking for help and they refer them to the correct agencies, but money is not their job.
Their purpose is to bring together the groups who are helping families, and to help those agencies flow well together to best assist those in need. This helps reduce trauma for the youth and the families.
She shared a success story of how their facilitator was able to help with a couple specific situations in Williams County, bringing about good family stories. Their two focuses are Service Coordination and Early Intervention.
The WCFCF council met on November 17, 2021 with a quorum, and discussed a number of issues. They have a part time facilitator and have realized they need to move to having a full time person.
This facilitator’s case load is full and they would like to make their position into a full time position. It was agreed in discussion with the Commissioners that an office would be kept for this person at the Board of DD, if that board agrees to it. Ms. Basselman was open to this and said she will present it to the Board of DD.
Financially this can be provided for through an overflow account through JFS, which is added to the $15,750 budget that FCF has.
(Commissioner Brian Davis said that this has not changed in 16 years and Voll said it has actually gone down.). Mr. Lord shared that they presently have an Excess Account in the amount of $170,000 which is moved over for FCF. They can also transfer another fund which has $175,000 in it. “At this point we are now able to do more,” he said.
With multiple agencies involved, having FCF coordination makes it more doable to cover the needs of all the families who are waiting for that.
In the Multi System Youth Fund right now, which they can bring under the council’s umbrella, they can use it to help those families. There was some discussion concerning details with the Commissioners.
Another source of funding which they hope to begin soon, after discussing it with the rest of the council, is to have a Dues Process like Defiance has. Each member agency would give a set amount each year, such as $3000, and this would keep them from running out of money should the money from JFS not be sustained.
It was agreed that even though the Dues Process “did not work in WC in the past” the time is right and the parties involved are more open to it as they have FCF to fill the role of service coordinator.
It was determined that the money would go from JFS to FCF to Board of DD to the full time facilitator who would be housed in their facility.
It was also agreed that a formal piece of paperwork will be written and brought to the commissioners for approval. A formal letter will also be written concerning the Dues Process.
Judge Gallagher told the Commissioners that the court is seeing great results from this collaboration. “Working together is a real plus for our county and has real benefit,” she said.
Ms. Basselman said that this collaborative act helps the Board of DD not have to hire another person to do the work they are doing.
This is a real benefit that will carry into the future even when those holding positions right now have moved on. It was also mentioned that this helps to assist the youth in moving away from drugs and in getting ongoing mental health support.
Ms. Basselman explained that she needs to first approach the part time person to see if they are willing to go full time and approach the Board of DD to make sure they are fine with housing the office at their building. Unity was reached on that topic quickly and the commissioners thanked the four representatives for coming to present in that session.
In General Session, the Commissioners approved Resolution 367 Transfer of Appropriations and Resolution 368 To Rescind 21-261 of July 22, 2021 to change the verbiage creating WC Port Authority.
A new resolution will be done in the near future. Also signed were a Change order; Travel Requests, and Credit Card appropriations for December for Engineer’s office.
The bills were also approved to be paid by the auditor. Minutes of previous meeting will be approved after Thanksgiving, as they were not yet ready for approval.
Rebecca can be reached at rebecca@thevillagereporter.com