Children’s Services

Hamilton County’s Board of County Commissioners issued a proclamation Wednesday naming April Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month in Hamilton County and April 12 as Wear Blue to Work Day.

The proclamation was issued after commissioners heard from Director Moira Weir on the large increases in Children’s Services caseloads and the many abused and neglected children being served by the agency.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This year, it comes with an extra sense of urgency in Hamilton County.
Our numbers are skyrocketing. We screened in 732 allegations of child abuse in the month of January, the largest monthly total in at least a decade. We screened in 699 reports during February. This followed a very busy last half of 2016, when we screened in 3,794 reports, 1,101 more than during the first half of the year.

New statistics show that Hamilton County has more than 1,100 children in certified foster care – the most in at least 20 years. Moira Weir, director of Hamilton County Job and Family Services, is calling for help.

We currently have more than 1,100 children in certified foster care. This might be the highest number in JFS history, certainly within the past 20 years.

On any given day, we have more than 2,100 children in custody. In addition to the 1,100 children in certified foster homes, the remaining 1,000 are children living with relatives or family friends, teenagers living on their own and preparing for life after foster care, or children living in residential centers, group homes or medical facilities.

More than 180 bikes, adorned with hand-made bright bows on the handlebars, with helmets and locks, arrived this morning on a Kroger truck from Pickaway Correctional Institution, where they were assembled by inmates. HCJFS volunteers unloaded the truck under the …

I could never thank all of the people who help us during the holidays and throughout the rest of the year. Please know that what you do for our children always results in smiles and a little bit of normalcy and hope in what are often turbulent times in a child’s life.

This year, Georgia Frakes donated 25 dolls to Hamilton County Job & Family Services. “It’s important for kids to get dolls that look like them,” she said.

This Thanksgiving, Cincinnatians from all walks of life will unite to experience the power of community at the 11th annual Fall Feast celebration. Guests will be served free meals, get free haircuts, receive free health checkups, coats, books and more on November 24, Thanksgiving Day, at the Duke Energy Convention Center. The entire community is invited to attend.

Hamilton County Job & Family Services was well represented at Thursdays Blacksmith Awards Dinner presented by the Cincinnati Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

Thanks to the following coffee shops for distributing our Adoption Month coffee sleeves.