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Two-Day Event Includes County Teams Involved in Helping Children
With goals of enhancing the safety, well-being and permanent home environments of Ohio children, Gov. Ted Strickland and Supreme Court of Ohio Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer kicked off the Ohio Summit on Children today in Columbus.
The two co-chairs welcomed five-member county teams to assess local and state strengths and challenges, identify service gaps and develop local plans for improvement in delivering services to Ohio’s children. Local juvenile court judges and directors of county children services or job and family services agencies served as team leaders.
“When we work together to ensure our state’s children are well cared for in safe home environments, we are ensuring a better future for our communities and our state,” Governor Strickland said. “The summit will empower leaders from Ohio’s counties to create and implement plans to improve the services they provide to children that will make a long-lasting impact on the lives of the children they serve.”
Modeled after the National Summit on Children, the idea for an Ohio summit came about after the success of the Supreme Court’s Beyond the Numbers project, which primarily focused on improving court processes for the benefit of children and families.
“As we’ve seen with other successful collaborations around the state, gathering people who can impact the delivery of services to children can have a dramatic effect,” said Chief Justice Moyer. “For instance, the Marion County Family Court reduced the time a child spends in a foster home waiting for adoption by more than three years. It only made sense to share these success stories with other parts of the state and expand beyond the court system.”
Part of the work that county teams will perform at the two-day summit includes collaborating on local plans and identifying any state-level barriers that could be removed. Participants also will hear national, state and local perspectives on the importance of collaborating on children’s issues.
“In an effort to foster better programs and services to meet the needs of Ohio’s most vulnerable children, ODJFS is proud to be a part of this innovative summit to open up the lines of communication among multiple agencies, stakeholders and communities,” said ODJFS Director Helen Jones-Kelley. “This is an excellent way to explore creative approaches to ensuring the safety, well-being and permanent home environments for our children.”
At the conclusion of the summit, each county will be required to submit an action plan within 90 days. A follow-up summit in the fall of 2009 will chart the progress of counties in their quest to collaborate more and in better ways to meet the needs of Ohio’s children. Success will be measured in terms of positive outcomes for children and families.
Highlights of the second day of the summit on Friday, May 2 include a speech on teamwork by Ohio State University Head Football Coach Jim Tressel at 12:30 p.m. and a closing media availability at 2:45 p.m. with the Governor, Chief Justice and ODJFS Director about the next steps resulting from the summit.
Members of the media planning to attend the media availability session are asked to check in at the media registration table outside the Hyatt Regency Ballroom on the third floor. The table will be staffed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday.
Contacts:
Governor’s Office: Keith Dailey, 614.644.0957
Supreme Court of Ohio: Chris Davey, 614.387.9250
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services: Scarlett Bouder, 614.466.6650