30th anniversary celebration last night

The Parkersburg site of CHS had a delightful 30th anniversary celebration last night at the Parkersburg Country Club. Everything went off so well without any hitches; Deb got many accolades about the fine event. The mix of people, and all their connections to the work of the agency over the years was an inspiring thing. I will write more about it later, but wanted to get out this initial post, letting folks know what an enjoyable event it was, and how thankful we are for everyone's contributing to such an event. The advisory council members, the staff, the support of the agency administratively, all contributed greatly. And of course, thanks and much appreciation to the sponsors, and the other community supporters of the agency, and our work and mission in the Parkersburg area.

Johnny Cash Tribute benefit

Saturday Night: February 28- 9 pm we'll be holding the 4th annual Johnny Cash tribute benefit for the local site of CHS. This event's proceeds will support the work of the Mid Town Family Resource Center here on St. Mary's Ave. in Parkersburg. This is a new venue this year, Kim at 6 Pence Pub on 7th St. has been great to work with; she advertises the event on the radio, and has been enthusiastically talking it up to the regulars there. Our 50-50 drawing has been off to a good pre-event start, and there have been more advance tickets sales than for any event in the series several years. Local musicians are lined up to sing Johnny Cash (and lots of June Carter Cash) songs; they donate their talent and time for this cause; giving the live music local fans a good evening of music. We have some door prizes and contests, too.
Come out, and get a chance to perhaps, see some unnamed agency personnel and local celebrities try to sing (or at least recite) the verses to "I've Been Everywhere," or "A Boy Named Sue" or "One Piece at a Time." Stay tuned for a report on this fun event; but be patient, it may take a day or two for me to recover from these back to back agency events!

Tonight is the 30th anniversary celebration for the CHS-Parkersburg site

We've gotten down to the day of the event, that has been several months in the planning. Deb has worked hard with all the details to make it a pleasant and enjoyable celebration of the local site's 30 years of serving area youth and families. We have amassed an intriguing collection of newspaper stories and pictures and hope that many folks can look these over tonight, and then we'll make them available in other ways for a wider audience to see. I hope we can really convey both the appreciation we feel for all the community support for the shelter and the agency over the years, and also look ahead to an exciting and challenging future of even more service and positive impact on the lives of children and families in the community. We hope that some momentum can come of this celebration in terms of even greater community awareness and support for our work, and some new initiatives. Stay tuned for a report on the event forthcoming! (But be a little patient, as we follow tonight's event up right tomorrow night with the first Americana Music Tribute series event of the year; the 4th annual Johnny Cash tribute here in Parkersburg. (check elsewhere for the details!!!)

Johnny Cash Tribute Benefit this Saturday

Things are shaping up very well, and very enthusiatically for the 4th annual Johnny Cash Tribute which is a fund raiser for the Mid Town Family Resource Center this year. The event is this Saturday, February 28th starting at 9 pm at the 6 Pence Pub on 7th St. in Parkersburg. We are hoping to sell a bunch of advance tickets ($5) but you can definitely pay at the door, too. There will be some fun music, celebrating the songs and life of Johnny Cash, and some contests and prizes throughout the evening. Come on out and hear some old favorites, and try your luck at some contests and trivia about Johnny Cash. We always GUARANTEE a great time at these Americana Music TRibute series events. Come out and support the agency.

We welcome Shelley Plauche back to CHS

Shelley Plauche, who had been the shelter supervisor at Gustke Shelter from 2001 to 2008, returns to work for the agency, helping me with some short term/ immediate assignments to work on some of our site's and the agency's strategic action steps. Many people greeted Shelley's return with warmth and enthusiasm. Her tasks and duties will be laid out over the next few days, so stay tuned!!! Shelley will be attending the 30th anniversary event this Friday, where her leadership of the shelter during the critical years of the capital campaign, and moving of the shelter to its present St. Mary's Ave. location will be highlighted, along with many other contributions by those gathered.

Tuck attends the KIDS COUNT/ KIDS FIRST communities legislative reception

Wednesday, February 25th I attended the reception at the Mariott for the KIDS COUNT and KIDS FIRST communities public awareness campaign for the legislators. This year long campaign is raising awareness about the importance and value of quality child care in our state. The goal is to introduce legislation for a quality rating system for child care centers and child care providers. CHS-Parkersburg is the local contact for a 10 county area for the campaign, since last spring. At the reception I talked with 3 local House of Delegates members, Azinger, Ellem and Poling. I asked their support of the KIDS FIRST goals, and also discussed foster care, early childhood programming, and they all three mentioned the upcoming 30th anniversary of the shelter event this Friday. Unfortunately, none of them can make it, but they were all aware of it, and sent their best wishes. Dan Poling, a newer delegate was very enthusiastic about learning more about CHS; and I hope to maintain good communication with him throughout the session, and back in the community. I also greeted Keith Spears, CHS board president, who was actively meeting with legislators and other key state civic leaders. I saw a few old cohorts in various projects or efforts.

Our VISTA's "trek" to Wirt County

February 25th our two intrepid VISTA's ventured to Wirt County to assist the communities and counties out that way with the comprehensive "service array" process that communities all around the state are participating in, to gather a full assessment of services to children and families both at the community level and across the state. Patty has this project, and assisting the neighboring counties conduct this process, as the major part of her community VISTA project, as well as her tasks being a VISTA leader with WV Promise. Kindra is helping with these assessment meetings, as well as learning about community services in the various communities, and learning about interagency and community dynamics and group processes.

Worth Our Care Symposium on Youth Transitioning to Adulthood

The two VISTA workers, and Ken from the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program transitional living program and I attended the Worth Our Care symposium on Tuesday, February 24 at the Mariott in Charleston. This all day event focused on how we, as a state, and in the community, can help young people, particularly those in the foster care, juvenile and adolescent mental health service systems, make a successful transition to adulthood. There were short presentations throughout the day on such topics as post secondary education issues for aging out foster youth, particularly needs of adolescents from a adolescent psychiatrists perspective, a judge talked about children's issues from his perspective, and a presenter on advocating and lobbying about issues on children. There was a panel at the end that included topics such as Chafee services, a pilot project for transitioning youth. This was a good overview about the topic, and leads us, as we returned to the local community, to want to work even harder to develop supports and services for youth in transition within our community, among our programs.

Monday's Wood County Youth Expo

On Monday, February 23, Wood County Family Resource Network held a Youth Expo at the Grand Central Mall. There was no school that day in Wood County (faculty senate day), and so the premise was, that organizations that serve children, especially in out-of-school-time could showcase their programs and services, and youth and their parents could circulate around among displays and activities on the day off from school. Over 30 organizations participated, and door prizes were given out throughout the day. Children's Home Society of West Virginia, Parkersburg site was well represented at the Expo. The Runaway and Homeless Youth Program (Basic Center Program) staff were there, to tout the weekend evening events they have been holding as a positive engagement activity for youth, particularly neighborhood youth, and youth "at risk" of the kinds of behaviors that may lead them into trouble. They were also touting "host homes" that we are recruiting to help with the kids in runaway and homeless situations. Our two VISTA workers were at the Expo most of the day, not only helping with the CHS booth, but giving out surveys for youth to fill out on drop out issues, and school experiences for youth. They are gathering these surveys to help with a drop out prevention summit that will be held in our area on April 2nd. They are heavily involved in the organizing of this event, as part of their commitment in VISTA to WV Promise. More details of this event will be forthcoming!
And finally, the staff of the Mid Town Family Resource Center (after school program at McKinley) staffed the table later in the day, with the hopes of recruiting older youth to volunteer at the after school program, or just to let community members know about this exemplary after school program!!! Thanks to all the staff who participated in this worthwhile community partnering event-

Lisa reports a successful game name at the youth drop in center Saturday night

Lisa says there were about 20 youth enjoying themselves at the Runaway and Homeless Youth Basic Center's youth game night Saturday night. They were playing guitar hero, and some board games, having a few refreshments, and such. There was a good mix of young people from different "ways they heard about the event." Lisa and Jim are building this into a good thing, and a good part of our positive youth engagement focus- giving young people a positive place on the weekend evenings.

Article in Parkersburg News today

Pam Brust has a full page, (Business section) article about the shelter's 30th anniversary today, with a few pictures and some quotes from folks about the impact of the shelter over the years. There is not information about how to get hold of us in the article, so I'll try to tag on to that, at least for the electronic version of the news and sentinel. Its a fine article as far as putting the the context of the shelter's history together with the present. I hope it helps continue some momentum of awareness of the agency locally that we are striving for.

Guitar Hero night here at the Youth Drop in Center

Lisa Doyle-Parsons is working hard on some youth activity events for the Basic Center Program part of our Runaway and Homeless Youth programming. Tonight from 7-9 there is a Guitar Hero game night here at the 3rd door down, Mid Town Family Resource Center. Lisa is building up this group of young people into a good opportunity to do positive activities and build some leadership among some youth, who can then do some of the outreach and support of other youth in the community in risk situations.

Tuck on WTAP's Daybreak this morning

Well, I had a short little time on the local TV station this morning, plugging the 30th anniversary banquet next Friday, and the Johnny Cash Tribute benefit next Saturday. It was a short little segment and I really had to work hard to get enough information in! I don't know if you can track down a little clip of it, off the WTAP website. Several people mentioned seeing it.

Parkersburg Site 30th anniversary celebration update

We are within 10 days of our 30th anniversary celebration - February 27th at 5:30 pm at the Parkersburg Country Club. This is shaping up to be a fun and meaningful event. We are getting a pretty impressive guest list established, and it will be a great opportunity to look back to the legacy of the shelter's origins in the community, and the steady and exciting growth of services and support for families that has transpired, as well as a look forward to the challenges and opportunities we want to take on, with the community's involvement and support. We are excited that Chris Pauken Lewis, the first director plans to attend. We are so honored to have Judge Gustke and Mary Jo planning to be there. Many local key civic leaders will be there, and an intriguing mix of supporters and key people in the shelter and agency's work over the 30 years. Please continue to spread the word, and let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. Look for a full page article in Sunday's Parkersburg News about the 30th anniversary. I will be up early Friday to be on WTAP's Daybreak talking about the anniversary. We are working feverishly to put together a power point slide show, and are thumbing through the albums, pictures, clippings, and artifacts in preparation for the event. Thanks to Deb for doing a huge amount of the organizing work for this event.

RFTS/ Partners in Prevention Monthly Lunch get-together

Wednesday, February 18th, a group of about 10 got together for lunch and discussion. This is a blend of staff and clients (in the RFTS program and the Homeless Student Liaison program) who meet over lunch and discuss a topic or just exchange resources or ideas and offer mutual support. Gwen Crum, from the WVU extension returned from the previous night, to again, give some information about nutrition, menu planning, economical shopping, and the classes she does in the community. The participants asked questions of her, as to how the classes go, the possibility of having a class through our FRC and similar topics. Today, only one RFTS client came; we have a sporadic attendance, but it is well noted, that the staff feel these are beneficial for exchanges of information, ideas, and support. The need to steadily offer these opportunities is important to us. The meal was delicious, (I was one of the few who had both meals, with the same menu, but it included my dietary preferences!!!) A contented time was had by all.

Mid Town Family Resource Center monthly family night

Last night we held our monthly Mid Town Family Resource Center family night. These events are a way to gather neighborhood families together for support and fellowship. They are part of our community level Partners in Prevention projects. The premise is, as we build some support, trust and mutual aid among neighborhood families, and their connection to our FRC, they can reduce stressors in their family life, that might lead to conflict, abuse or neglect. We work very hard to focus on the positive strength building potential, in keeping with the agency's mission of nurturing and protecting children, while strengthening families. The families really seem to appreciate and enjoy the togetherness. There is a good mix of parents, and children, and some grandparents and older siblings. Pasta was the main course! Lots of bustling and activity leading up to the meal! Many of our teen volunteers really know they are needed and appreciated for their help with the set up. The kids love the relaxed atmosphere; playing on computers, playing games, doing crafts. One mother was feverishly helping her child with a social studies fair project. The meal was well received and lots of contented smiles were on faces.
For the "program" of the evening, the parents went to another room to hear about nutrition and economical menu planning and such; and the children had an activity related to this topic. Thanks to Gwen Crum and Charlene DeLong from WVU extension for being our presenters ! They were encouraging and informative, and seemed to enjoy the exchanges and experience.
Some parents were lucky winners of some gift cards for practical assistance, and surveys are always conducted on how we are doing, what other issues or topics the families would like to have in future months. There were over 25 people in attendance, enjoying a little fellowship and support on this February brisk night.

A "purpose statement" from the original board of the shelter

"The purpose of the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Youth Services Corporation is to identify youth service projects needed in this area and to assist the community in providing these services. In this regard, the MOVRYSC has established a thirty day emergency shelter for troubled youth (Shelter Care Facility) who are in need of a temporary place to stay for whatever reason. Currently, the MOVRYSC is working with the Wood County Board of Education in an attempt to establish an alternative school. The MOVRYSC is available to coordinating agencies such as the Wood County Commission on Crime, Delinquency and Corrections for the implementation of projects identified by such agencies."

Shelter's 30th anniversary celebration

I am gearing up to put some pictures together for a presentation for the event on February 27th. I have been sorting and sifting through the albums and boxes of clippings and pictures. I will be scanning some pictures in starting tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes. This is an interesting process of going down memory lane about all the thousands of people connected to the shelter over the years; the youth who have stayed there, and since, grown up to be in their 40's and such! The many staff who have worked there over the years, many of whom went on to other careers in the helping professions from their start as a child care worker; grounding in the challenging work of helping teens in crisis. The many others, who moved on to completely other lines of work, but used that brief employment to gain some perspective on teens, family issues, their own style of helping, and just plain having some "interesting" experiences with young people and co-workers. The many community folks who have helped out the shelter over the years also have an interesting perspective. Donors, volunteers, mentors, inter-agency collaborators - thousands of these sorts of people also have a unique perspective on the shelter in the community.
We hope these next two weeks will bring some more reflecting and sharing, and connecting people. We intend to keep on working hard to serve the children and families of the community, but stepping back and reflecting is a good thing to do from time to time.

First Coffee House of the year- tomorrow night

When we were able to open up the big middle storefront to be our neighborhood youth center; and catchall Family Resource Center, one dream I had was to open it up some nights for movies and music. Its a big old useful, versatile room, that is just plain enough, funky enough, utilitarian enough to meet lots of needs and not be too rigid in its expectations. Everybody who 'works" out of it, sort of, kind of, has to accept that its a very communal space; and so far, for 4 or so years this works. We have workspaces for our two Mid Town Family Resource Center staff, Lisa and Shauna, two workspaces for our two VISTA's, Patty and Kindra. And Mr. Apgar has his "classroom" here. It also shares: 4-H club stuff, Girl Scout stuff, monthly family nights, clothing give-aways, food pantry, meeting space, training space, foster care visitation, craft station, runaway and homeless youth program youth drop-in nights activities, after school drop in center for computer use.
I tried about 3 music documentary movie nights (I guess) two years ago, or maybe last year, and they weren't well attended. They were great movies by the way!!! And we have had a few movie nights for the Neighborhood families. Now, Lisa has been showing movies to some teens on Saturday's for a few months. So movies "work" pretty well; we have a nice white wall to project up on. You can seat 40 people!! There's a little area for refreshments.
Music nights have also been a fun experiment. I have had solo acoustic shows, bringing very fine musicians, who enjoy the acoustics; sound, and the quiet respectful, "listening room" atmosphere. We even had a rocking classic rock show in here, to a pretty decent crowd. We had a children's music show last summer; centered around Woody Guthrie's music, with about 40 people enjoying some food and music. Plenty of kazoos were distributed and honked throughout the evening.
Tomorrow night, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart, a couple with a deep love for performing in small intimate settings, who hail from the Nashville Tennessee area, are performing at the coffee house setting. I have seen them before and love their music and the way they connect with an audience. They were in the area, so I asked if they would add another show on their way back to Tennessee, and the Folk Alliance conference in Memphis; and sure enough, they were willing!! So we're hoping for a good size crowd; even though its a Monday night, its an early show, and a great night of music is guaranteed!
These shows sort of "connect" the agency's local site, to the on-going fund raising Tribute shows we put on in the community. Many local music lovers are beginning to associate Children's Home Society with good musical entertainment in the community. This works back and forth both ways, to promote the agency's work with area children and families, and to acknowledge our needs for outreach and fund raising, with providing opportunities for enjoying live music in the area.

Enjoyable speaking engagement at the Parkersburg Lion's Club

Andy and I were guests at the Parkersburg Lion's Club yesterday at the Blennerhassett Hotel for lunch. They are a dedicated and congenial bunch. I gave them a brief overview of the agency and the Parkersburg site, focusing on the Shelter; its purpose and role, and its history. I also emphasized the agency's commitment to helping children with lifelong families. This was an attentive group, and asked good questions about the shelter, the agency, and the children and families we work with. I touted recruitment of families to help us with our work in permanency and foster care, and host homes for our runaway and homeless youth programs. Larry Johnson, a longtime local banker supporter of the shelter, is a member, along with his wife. I was able to cite that Larry was at our open house for the new shelter, and had, while growing up, lived next door to the new shelter on St. Mary's Avenue!

History Lesson; origins of the Parkersburg shelter

In preparation for the 3oth anniversary celebration of the Shelter I intend to post a few little bits of history. Here is a list of the original incorporators of the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Youth Services Corporation. This was the organization which operated the shelter from 1979-1992.

Samuel Barron
R.L. Rogers
Scott Durig
Thomas Kulik
William Powell
George W. Burge
Ruth Barry
Lyndall Jones
Genevieve Heermans
Terry Tamburini
Robert Nutter
Richard Blevins
Larry Brothers
Richard Bush
Arthur N. Gustke
Paul Denchy
Carol Behan
Rose M. James
Lewis Wolfe
Darel Custer
R.G. Snyder

We will be having some of the original documents of the corporation at the event on Feb. 27th at the Parkersburg Country Club, and encourage folks to spread the word if any of the above people have not heard about the event, to come and reminisce about the founding of the organization.

Jeff the Parkersburg News photographer

I spent another fun afternoon "photo shoot" with Jeff, the photographer for the Parkersburg News. He is always fun, with his sly humor and observations on life. He was taking some pictures for Pam's article about the agency's local 30th anniversary celebration. He has done a number of stories' pictures for the agency. He also remembered the Tinkers project, and will be bringing over a computer!! Look for his pictures with Pam's story coming out soon in the News.

Less than a week to the first Coffee House of the Year

Last year I held about 5 coffee houses in our store front third door space. The flexibility of using this space for all the different things we do in a week or a month is exciting! We have movie nights, where we project a screen up on the big wall. The wall that also sometimes serves at the 4-H clubs wall of banners, posters, and such. The coffee houses allow musicians to have a nice intimate connection with the audience, and provides a very nice sound, and respectful listening room atmosphere. I have always gotten compliments on the set up. Unfortunately, some of the crowds have been disappointingly low for the excellent quality of the music!!! On Monday, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart will be performing. They are musicians I have seen twice in the Nelsonville/ Athens Ohio area. They are very engaging in their performance, and have an obvious love of performing in small settings. Their musical links run very deep, they have not only a great sound together, but intriguing personal stories and histories of musical backgrounds. They have some unique guitar playing styles that hook you in. A very refreshingly unique thing they do, is play unamplified! They are tireless touring musicians; if you check out their website or myspace site, you see they are really seeing the country- and meeting music lovers all over the place probably 250 nights a year!! Please spread the word about this fantastic opportunity right here in little old Parkersburg to see some great national touring singer songwriters. You will come away impressed and invigorated for facing this wild ol' crazy world.
And, by the way, I am in discussions with Kathleen Coffee about a third trip up to our coffee house probably sometime in April. She has put on two great shows last year, as well as winning the Colony Theater songwriter contest in Marietta last year. She is from the Princeton area, and is headed to the Peace Corps in August, excited to be seeing the world, and spreading her powerful musical message and giving spirit!!

CHS Board Meeting web cast

I got to participate in the Children's Home Society board meeting last night remotely, using conference calling and web access. There was a little video feed from the conference room, so you could see the people attending, and Jeff and Susan had all the handouts and reports accessible on the web link, so you could follow right along. This was a good experience, and a reminder of "things to come" where you don't necessarily have to drive the 70 miles to Charleston to be kept in the loop and involved in the meetings. They are working at this, with the efforts to broaden the board to represent all the state. One board member was on the web cast in Virginia, and could participate fully. Keith Spears is doing a great "cheerleading" job as the Board President, making everyone feel the importance of the board's work in leading the agency.

Week of the Young Child

With our KIDS FIRST efforts, we were invited to partipate in planning a Kids Fair on April 18th at North Church, to kick off "The Week of the Young Child." This solid group of early childhood providers and agencies met Thursday night to begin planning. This is a very vibrant group with good connections to put together such a fair. They were volunteering left and right to take care of details for the event. Publicity, donations, contacting other possible booths and activities were all delegated. Stay tuned for more information about this event closer to the time. We will try to have some RFTS material, and our KIDS FIRST material, as well as perhaps some Child Abuse Prevention Month material at a table there.

Welcome Marina

We welcome Marina Kelley as a BSW field placement student this semester. She has been coming in for a few sessions of orientation. She is getting to know the agency and the site and the staff and programs. She will primarily be here on Monday's and Friday's, getting a full exposure to all our site's programs, and some of the "macro" social work aspects of our agency- such as policy advocacy, program development and evaluation, and our role and stake in the wider community's social services and family services. She spent a lot of time with Kim looking at foster care service plans Friday, and attended the advisory group for the Mid Town Family Resource Center and Partners in Prevention programs.

Mid Town Family Resource Center/ Partners in Prevention grants advisory group

This group met Friday afternoon. Fred Shreve, the principal at McKinley gave us feedback on how the after school program and family support efforts are received at McKinley. He also told us what he felt was the biggest stressor (currently) for families and students. He felt students missing school due to "parents not getting up" and similar stressors were among the problems. We discussed how our previous truancy diversion program helped with this. We explored ways our program could help parents with this issue. We discussed what the school does to try to give incentives for good attendance.
The group also discussed the Girl Scout troop that meets at our office, and a new curriculum of prevention they will be using. We also discussed upcoming National Child Abuse Prevention month in April and some ideas we might do for the month.
We discussed and displayed the "shaken baby doll" that we recently purchased from a mini-grant, and possible plans to have demonstrations and workshop sessions with this.
Bryanna gave some suggestions for ways we could engage some young fathers in support meetings. These will all be pursued and discussed further over the next months.

Parkersburg News reporter doing a story on the 30th anniversary of the shelter

Pam Brust, of the Parkersburg News, conducted an interview at the site on Friday, preparing a story on the 30th anniversary of the shelter. I hosted her, and she also interviewed Lisa Weaver, who began at the shelter in 1982, and now directs the Mid Town Family Resource Center and the McKinley after school program. Pam is a valued journalist in the Parkersburg area, preparing excellent articles on human services and community organizations, as well as the local political scene. The story will (hopefully) also include some phone interview quotes Pam does with some past shelter residents and staff, which I provided names for. These people all eagerly and willingly offered to share their story.

RFTS supervisors visit local DHHR supervisors

Friday, Deb and Mary visited with the local Child Protective Services supervisors of the WV Department of Health and Human Resources, to establish good communication and linkage with these key community contacts for the Right from the Start program. They felt this went well, and they established a procedure for referrals.
The local site foster care staff will also be meeting with local CPS supervisors soon, to create a similar sharing of information and increasing awareness of our foster care services.

All Site Information session over lunch

We had about 20 people attend the "bring your own lunch" information sharing session about the Parkersburg site of CHS today. We started out with the little trivia quiz on the previous post; just to make the point that there are a lot of intriguing details about this site, that no one probably can know everything about it. If you are an employee of the site, give the quiz a try!!!
Lisa W probably got the closest to knowledge about the site!!!
People took turns trying to describe the important details of other staff's programs, with then, the staff from those programs being able to clarify and stress important points. Then others could ask questions that tend to come up when trying to help with inquiries. We then talked a little about the overall site (and wider agency-at-large) strategic plans and visions.
This was a very supportive and encouraging session, and we will have these at least quarterly. Hopefully, also, at least, people come away knowing each other a little more, and knowing who to turn to for questions or clarifications. There will be a few of the suggestions taken and improvements in intra-site communication being addressed and improved.

Silly LIttle "site trivia" quiz; part of today's all site info sharing session

February 4, 2009 Parkersburg site of CHS “trivia quiz”
1) What does Mr. Apgar do?

2a) Who is Oliver? 2b) Who is Marv Davis?

3)What should you do if you get a call about us taking old computer parts?

4) What is the correct way to deal with a caller who says : “Did somebody call me from this number?”

5a) How many years old is Children’s Home Society of WV?

5b) How old is the Parkersburg site of CHS?

6) Where is the calendar for “reserving” the 5th door conference/ community room?

7) How many different agencies has Vickie Taylor worked for in the Birth to Three program (or its predecessors)?

8) when did Lisa (Moury) Weaver begin working at the Shelter Care Facility (aka the Gustke Shelter)?
9) Who does Kay work for?
10) What new phrase was added to the agency’s mission statement within the past year?

Foster Care and Adoption Information Sessions

We have, along with other Children's Home Society foster care and adoption sites, been receiving many inquiries about foster care and adoption over recent months. At our site, with the addition of seeking "host homes" for our runaway and homeless youth programs, we feel we provide inquirying families with many options of ways they could help children and assist with permanency and lifelong connections. Though we didn't have anyone attend the 5 pm information session, a woman came in earlier in the day to inquire and received a good orientation by Carna. We also had an inquiry by phone today. The RHY Basic Center staff sat in on this first Information Session (for them) and there was some good intra-staff brainstorming about outreach and recruitment strategies. The next session is scheduled for a Saturday, May 16th in the morning, during May's National Foster Care Month. Stay tuned for updates about this special event at the Parkersburg site.
Carna, our adoption and foster care, Masters level social worker, is working hard in her multiple duties, "learning the ropes" of adoption work, as well as conducting home studies, PRIDE trainings and working with the 11 foster homes we now have on board. Kim has been on board as the foster care case manager for several months, and handles most of the case work for the children in care.