OHIO News

Richland County Children
Services, The Domestic Violence Shelter and the Richland County
Foundation's Women's Fund is continuing to push the "Choose Your Partner
Carefully," campaign throughout Richland County.


Carl Hunnell, communications supervisor with Richland County Children
Services said new campaign posters will be distributed throughout the
county this week. He said the goal of the campaign is to increase
awareness among single women of the risk their chidlren face when a
non-related male is entrusted with their care.
Hunnell said the campaign will help women make more informed
decisions about choosing a partner that will treat them and their
children with dignity and respect. He said the campaign helps young
single women recognize potential danger signs.
Hunnell said Richland County Children Services remains at a near
record pace for child abuse investigations for 2010. During the first
quarter fo this year, the agency conducted 628 investigations of alleged
child abuse and/or neglect.
In 2009, the agency had its busiest year in its 126 history with
2,748 investigations of alleged child abuse and /or neglect.
For more information about "Choose Your Partner Carefully," contact
Richland County Children Services at 419-774-4100, www.richlandcountychildrenservcies.org
or the Domestic Violence Shelter at 1-800-931-SAFE (7233), www.thedvshelter.com.

this is fantastic - they should take it national!

oviedo45 wrote:this is fantastic - they should take it national!

---I agree Ovie! That's why I wanted all alerted to it. It's like someone was reading our minds huh?!

PERRY TWP. —



An Amber Alert was not issued when Shelby Wengerd went missing because
she was believed to be a runaway.

The teen was found alive Friday night.

According to the Amber Alert website and local police, for an Amber
Alert to be issued, a missing child must meet four criteria. In the
14-year-old girl’s case, she met only one.

Those points are:

• Law enforcement confirms the child is younger than 18.

• Law enforcement believes the abduction poses a credible threat of
immediate danger or death to the child.

• There is sufficient descriptive information about the child, suspect
and/or the circumstances to believe the alert is needed.

• Law-enforcement agency determines the child is not a runaway and has
not been abducted by family, unless the investigation determines the
child is in immediate danger of bodily harm or death.

Police Chief Mike Pomesky confirmed Wengerd was not abducted, but ran
away from home. “We haven’t met the four criteria for the Amber Alert,
but I did place a call still to get an alert. We were unable to do
that,” he said.

If the information does not meet the Amber criteria, police agencies
have other options available.

One of those options was to work with the media — as Perry police did —
to spread the word.

“Our media outlets have been fantastic to work with on this case,” and
have had a similar effect to an Amber Alert, Pomesky said.

To learn more about the Amber Alert Plan in Ohio, visit www.ohioamberplan.org.

Ohio is implementing a family-oriented approach to investigating child
abuse and neglect allegations after receiving positive results from 10
pilot counties, including Licking County Children Services.
The approach, called alternative response, is focused on finding the
underlying causes of child abuse or neglect more than the traditional
response, which is focused on investigating specific allegations,
Licking County Children Services Intake Supervisor Sue Wasiniak said.Under
the traditional approach, if a child reported an injury, social workers
would interview the child, other relatives, the alleged offender and
potentially police, setting up a combative dynamic. It could lead to
children being removed from the home or other court-mandated
requirements.Under the alternative response, a social worker
would sit down with the family and discuss what happened and why, trying
to find the root problems. Then they would set up a plan to improve the
situation."It's not a value judgment. Neither way is bad or
good," Wasiniak said.Results from the pilot program, which
included Licking County and nine other counties selected to participate,
indicated children were just as safe under the alternative response
approach and less likely to return for a different report, according to
the Ohio Alternative Response Pilot Project Final Report released
Monday.Of the 10 counties reviewed, 13.3 percent of traditional
response families had a new report of abuse or neglect within a year
when compared with 11.2 percent of alternative response families,
according to the final report.Licking County Children Services
noticed a decrease in reopened cases within six months when the
alternative response approach was used -- 2 percent -- when compared to 5
percent of reopened cases using the traditional response.Between
July 2008 and September 2009, social workers entered cases into a
computer to select which families would be treated with either the
alternative or traditional approach at random, Wasiniak said. The cases
were tracked through December 2009.Not all allegations were
included. Fatalities, child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse were
not appropriate for the new approach because documentation and a finding
are important, Wasiniak said."It is not for all reports," said
John Fisher, director of Licking County Job and Family Services.The
pilot project report revealed interaction between families and social
workers was more positive when the alternative response approach was
used. Families described feeling optimistic, reassured, pleased and
relieved.Those from the traditional approach expressed feeling
tense, confused, anxious and stressed, according to the report.The
pilot counties reported 3.7 percent of children were removed from the
home under the traditional approach, as compared to 1.8 percent of
children from the alternative response, according to the report.Because
of the pilot program's success, the Ohio Department of Job and Family
Services plans to expand the number of counties offering alternative
response to 25 by fall and eventually include the entire state,
according to a news release from the Ohio Supreme Court."Usually
the families know best and we need to listen," Wasiniak said. "They
appreciate the fact that we are there with open hearts and open minds."

AKRON -- Whether you
live in Akron or just work or visit the city, you can know get alerts
about what's going on sent to you via e-mail or text.


The Akron Police Department says a new system, called Nixle, works like an alert system, giving users
color-coded warnings about what is happening in a particular area.
Whether an Amber Alert is issued, a car accident shuts
down a street, even an evacuation warning, all can be sent straight to
subscribers.
Police Chief Augustus Hall says, "The best way to handle any incident
is to get the public the right information, accurate information, in a
timely fashion."
Those interested can sign up to receive four types of notifications: emergency alerts,
advisories, community notices and traffic notices.
To sign up go to the Akron
Police Department's website.

BUCYRUS -- Richland County is set to be part of the second stage of a
pilot program as Ohio implements a family-oriented approach to
investigating child abuse and neglect allegations.




The approach, called alternative response, is focused on finding the
underlying causes of child abuse or neglect. The state received positive
results from 10 pilot counties, including Licking County. The
traditional response is more focused on investigating specific
allegations, said Sue Wasiniak, intake supervisor for Licking County
Children Services.Because of the pilot program's success, the
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services plans to expand the number of
counties offering alternative response to 25 by fall and eventually
include the rest, according to a news release from the Ohio Supreme
Court.Tom O'Leary, director of Crawford County Job and Family
Services, said Crawford isn't among the model counties in the study, but
added that the county will "adopt some of the concepts that are being
put forward."Under the traditional approach, when a child
reported an injury, social workers interviewed the child, relatives, the
alleged offender and potentially police, setting up a combative
situation. The investigation could lead to children being removed from
the home or other court-mandated requirements.Under alternative
response, a social worker sits down with the family, trying to find the
root problems."It's a philosophy that puts the family first,"
O'Leary said.They set up a plan to improve the situation.Program
results indicated children were just as safe under the alternative
approach and authorities were less likely to return for a future report,
according to the Ohio Alternative Response Pilot Project Final Report
released this week.Of the 10 counties reviewed, 13.3 percent of
traditional response families had a new report of abuse or neglect
within a year, compared with 11.2 percent of alternative response
families, according to the final report.Between July 2008 and
September 2009, social workers entered cases into a computer to randomly
choose how families would be treated, Wasiniak said. The cases were
tracked through December.Not all allegations were included in the
study. Fatalities, child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse were
deemed appropriate for the new approach because documentation and a
finding are crucial, Wasiniak said.The project revealed
interaction between families and social workers was more positive when
the alternative response was used. Families described feeling
optimistic, reassured, pleased and relieved.Those from the
traditional approach expressed feeling tense, confused, anxious and
stressed, according to the report.The pilot counties reported 3.7
percent of children were removed from the home under the traditional
approach, compared to 1.8 percent of children from the alternative
response.The counties in the pilot program were Clark, Fairfield,
Franklin, Greene, Guernsey, Licking, Lucas, Ross, Trumbull and
Tuscarawas.Children Services spokesman Carl Hunnell confirmed
Richland County will participate, but declined further comment.