From the Director

It is a new day at Job and Family Services. Change won’t occur overnight, but, make no mistake about it, change is underway. The JFS our staff and our consumers know now is evolving into a stronger, better organization. We …

Trauma can have life-long consequences.    We see the effects every day: trauma from leaving home and family, trauma from abuse or neglect, trauma from a family member’s mental illness or substance use, trauma from living in poverty.   We never …

Did you know at least a third of all Hamilton County residents are involved in a child support case? We actively worked 71,000 child support cases per month in 2018. If you consider each case to have one father, one …

For child care providers in Hamilton County, it is time to step up. We are in the final stretch – 12 months and counting – for child care providers to become rated under the Step Up to Quality program. The …

I am extremely excited about a new program designed to help the hundreds of grandparents, aunts, uncles and other kinship caregivers who take care of children in our custody. In May, we launched a kinship stipend program and early this …

May is National Foster Care Month and according to the latest figures from the state, we have 675 certified foster homes in Hamilton County. This month, I am sending a special “thank you” to 675 wonderful families that made the …

 Among the many things learned in my 12 years as director of Job and Family Services: organizations can always make themselves better.   Of course, this applies to everything in life. Never grow comfortable and always reevaluate how you can …

 Later this month, a group of child welfare leaders from around the nation will meet in Arlington, Va., to discuss a vision for the 21st Century Child Welfare System. I am very excited to have received an invite to that, …

 We are fortunate our country’s government shutdown is over. As I write this, there is still a threat of another shutdown in mid-February, but we remain fully operational and have not been informed of any change to our programs or …

Hamilton County Job and Family Services is excited to be part of a new effort to lift local families and support them on their way to self-sufficiency. Project LIFT will launch in January, a $5 million, public/private effort to remove …