2001-2002 Program Report
The Programs of the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia are directed at enhancing family life, preserving and strengthening families, protecting children from abuse and neglect, providing shelter care and foster care for children, and finding homes for children who are free for adoption. Funds for these services come from contributions, program service fees, grants, purchase of service contracts with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and Medicaid fees.
During fiscal year 2001-02, more than 9,700 children and their families benefited from agency services.
Adoption
The agency’s Adoption Program provides services to children, birth parents, and adoptive parents and includes home studies, foster care, counseling, child placement, post-adoptive services and service to adult adoptees. The program is operated from offices in Charleston, Morgantown and Princeton.
During the year the Adoption Program completed 10 agency home studies and 36 court ordered home studies, placed 9 children in adoptive homes. We also provided adoption-related services to 165 individuals.
Adoption Resource Center
The West Virginia Adoption Resource Center promotes adoption in the state, advocates for the adoption of special needs children, provides services to adoptees and/or their families and operates both an adoption library and an information/referral service of adoption related services. During the year, the Adoption Resource Center provided post-adoption services to 66 persons and assisted in 2 reunions.
Right From the Start
This targeted case management service is provided to high-risk birth mothers and high-risk infants to meet their medical, economic and social needs. The service is provided through offices in Charleston, Daniels, Huntington, Lewisburg, Martinsburg, Northfork and Webster Springs. During the year, 409 women and 321 infants received services.
WE CAN Volunteer Program
The WE CAN Volunteer Program recruits, trains and makes volunteers available to Child Protective Services (CPS) workers to: augment services provided by CPS workers, provide direct services to children and parents, and involve the community in CPS efforts. The geographic area served by the Volunteer Program includes Braxton, Logan, Mercer, Mingo, Raleigh, Fayette, Greenbrier, and Wyoming, Counties. The WE CAN Program ended June 30, 2002 in the following counties: Braxton, Mingo, Raleigh, Fayette and Wyoming Counties. The program remains effective in Logan, Mercer, Greenbrier Counties.
During the year, 700 children benefitted from 23,224 hours of volunteer time from 304 volunteers.
Catamount Day Care Center
The Catamount Day Care Center in Keyser, with a capacity of 34 children, is a joint project between Potomac State College and the Society to provide quality day care for college staff and students as well as the community at large. Additionally, the Center provides a practical learning setting for early childhood education students at Potomac State. During the year, 75 children form 54 families have received service.
Child Protective Services
The agency’s Child Protective Services Unit investigates child abuse and neglect complaints, provides counseling and other services to prevent further abuse and neglect, and does emergency placement of children who must be removed from their homes.
The geographic area served by the Child Protective Services Unit includes Littlepage Terrace, Orchard Manor, Hillcrest Village and South Park Village operated by Charleston Housing Authority. During the year, 56 families and over 114 children were provided services. The CPS Unit was discintinued on June 30, 2002 due to funding cuts.
Therapeutic Foster Care
Therapeutic Foster Care provides a treatment environment for troubled children within the private homes of trained families. The approach combines the normalizing influence of family-based care with specialized treatment interventions, creating a therapeutic environment within the context of a supportive family home. During the year, the Society’s Therapeutic Foster Care Program has trained 15 foster families who have provided 6,916 service days to 34 children.
Truancy Diversion Services
The Truancy Diversion Program expanded this year to provide services to students and families in 49 counties. These students range in age from 5 to 18 and are experiencing truancy problems in school. The local school provides a referral to the Truancy Diversion Social Worker who works with the student and family to develop an individualized plan. The social worker also assesses the student and family to determine need, links the student/family with appropriate programs and services and facilitates communication. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources funds the program. The program is implemented by five partner agencies of the Alliance for Children (the Society, Burlington United Methodist Family Services, Cammack Children’s Center, Elkins Mountain School and Prestera Mental Health Center. ) This program served 5,525 children and their families from July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2002. The Society served 1,755 children and their families in the same time frame. The Truancy Diversion Program was discontinued on June 30, 2002 due to funding cuts.
Family Visitation Program
The Family Visitation Program in Nicholas, McDowell, Wyoming, Braxton, Webster and Mercer Counties provided supervised visitation, case management notes and summaries and monthly visitation reports for children and families referred by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Visits are individually tailored to meed the needs of the children as well as the parents or grandparents involved. During the year, 98 families participated in 4,040 supervised visits and benefited from 10,345 hours of staff supervision.
PAYOFF Program (Youth Substance Abuse Intervention)
Funded by a FOCUS Grant from the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation, the PAYOFF Program is an adolescent substance abuse intervention project providing services to youth identified with a substance abuse problem in Wood County. During the year, 32 youth received services aimed at removing substance abuse as a factor in their lives. The PAYOFF Program was discontinued on June 30, 2002 due to funding cuts.
Transportation Services
Transportation Services were provided to clients of the Department of Health and Human Resources staff in Greenbrier, Kanawha and Wood Counties. A total of 77 trips covering 20,063 miles were provided to 66 clients this year.
Children First ~ Children in the Middle
Through agreements with local county court systems, the Society provides parenting education services to parents involved in divorce in Fayette, Mercer, Monroe Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming Counties. These programs provide divorcing parents the opportunity to learn about and discuss the effects of divorce and the changing family situation has on children. By helping parents learn to communicate effectively with each other and focus on the best interests of the child, the impact of divorce can be mitigated. During the year, 1,352 parents took part in parenting education classes.
Youth Services
The Youth Services Program, funded through a grant from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, provides services to children and youth whose inappropriate behavior problems necessitate immediate intervention to prevent the child’s formal involvement with the Juvenile Justice and/or child welfare systems. The program benefits from the partnership of Elkins Mountain School, Burlington United Methodist Family Services, Inc. and the Society, all members of the Alliance for Children. During the year, the Society has provided services to 296 children and youth in Berkeley, Greenbrier, Jefferson, Morgan, McDowell, Pocahontas and Wyoming Counties.
Heads Up
The Heads Up program, a school attendance project addressing chronic absences from school due to lice infestation, is based out of Wood County and covers five surrounding counties. During the year, 226 children and their families received services. The Heads Up Program was discontinued on June 30, 2002 due to funding cuts.
Family Preservation Grant
Funded through a grant with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, the Family Preservation Grant provided social casework in 18 counties including Berkeley, Braxton, Fayette, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Jefferson, McDowell, Mercer, Mineral, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Preston, Pocahontas, Raleigh, Summers, Webster and Wyoming Counties. The Family Preservation team provides services to families which ensure safety to the child(ren) and support to the family. During the year, 140 families with 371 children received service.
TAKING OFF Program (Summer Youth Program)
Funded through the Region IV Workforce Investment Board, this program was an income eligible youth work readiness program in nine north central counties. Over 300 in-school youth were served with activities such as career interest explorations (job shadowing, field trips), resume preparation, “soft skills” development for positive work habits, and post secondary exposure to vocational and career opportunities. A summer work experience was also provided to 280 youth in the nine county region and included a blend of work experience in an area of interest; “traditional” summer work for schools, municipalities, or nonprofit groups; and academic enrichment activities. The TAKING OFF Program was discontinued on June 30, 2002.
Emergency Shelter Care
The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia operates ten shelters providing short-term and emergency care for youth in crisis. The program is designed to accomplish two basic purposes: to meet the child’s emergent need for residential care in a safe, supportive setting and to provide a period of time for the Department of Health and Human Resources and shelter staff to assess the child’s needs and develop the most suitable plan for continued care and protection.
During the 2001-2002 fiscal year, the shelter program provided 27,835 days of residential care and comprehensive social services to 1,128 children. The average length of stay was 24.6 days. Most youth served were in need of emergency shelter care due to abuse and neglect in their own homes, family conflicts or delinquency.
Davis Child Shelter
The Davis Child Shelter is a 10-bed facility in Charleston. During the year, the shelter provided 3,119 days of care to 150 children.
Paul Miller Home
The Paul Miller Home is a 10-bed facility located in Northfork. During the year, the shelter provided 2,119 days of care to 85 children.
Romney Shelter
The Romney Shelter is an 10-bed facility. During the year, the shelter provided 2,825 days of care to 112 children.
Martinsburg Shelter
The Martinsburg Shelter is an 8-bed facility. During the year, the shelter provided 2,108 days of care to 92 children.
Cherry Hill Shelter
The Cherry Hill Shelter is an 8-bed facility located in Daniels (near Beckley). During the year, the shelter provided 2,707 days of care to 73 children.
Huntington Shelters
Two shelters are operated in the Huntington area providing 15 beds. During the year, the shelters provided 4,278 days of care to 186 children.
Arthur N. Gustke Shelter
The Arthur N. Gustke Shelter is an 8-bed facility located in Parkersburg. During the year, the shelter provided 2,294 days of care to 86 children.
Lewisburg Shelter
The Lewisburg Shelter is an 8-bed facility. During the year, the shelter provided 2,131 days of care to 93 children.
June Montgomery Harless Children’s Home
The Harless Shelter is a 10-bed facility in Holden . During the year, the shelter provided 2,879 days of care to 129 children.
Kathleen and John Faltis Children’s Shelter
The Faltis Shelter is a 10-bed facility in Muddlety (near Summersville). During the year, the shelter provided 3,002 days of care to 122 children.
Training and Development
The Society provides excellent opportunities for staff development and maintenance of professional credentials through orientation, in-service training, tuition assistance, participation in external professional conferences and seminars, and continuing education opportunities for social workers and counselors through agency-sponsored regional and statewide trainings.
Last year, more than 436 agency employees received 61,634 hours of training. An additional 550 staff from other agencies received 4,950 hours of training. The agency sponsored its sixth major statewide conference, “Measure Up: What Works in Child Welfare.” The agency is pleased to participate in a collaborative effort to plan statewide trainings with the West Virginia Child Care Association, the Alliance for Children and the Children’s Justice Task Force.