Medina County Job and Family Services reports treatment foster‑home licensing, 100% of required visits for August and upcoming coat and toy drives

Medina County Job and Family Services Director Debbie Kiley told commissioners the department reached 100% compliance with required visits for children in care in August and described progress on a multi‑county treatment foster‑home program designed for children with higher acuity needs. “Our caseworkers are moving around. But I am happy to say that, for the month of August, they reached 100 percent of their visits were met,” Director Debbie Kiley said, reporting performance against state best‑practice benchmarks. Kiley said the county now has one licensed treatment foster home through a collaborative program with Portage and Columbiana counties and hopes to license two more by year‑end. The arrangement will allow participating counties to share capacity for children who currently require placement in group or institution‑level care. Kiley described an identified child currently in a group home whom staff hope to place in a newly licensed treatment foster home. Commissioners also heard about two upcoming community programs run by the agency: Coats for Kids on Thursday, Nov. 6, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Medina County residents only; parents/guardians must attend with children to verify residency) and the agency’s annual toy drive on Saturday, Nov. 1, from 9 a.m. to noon. Kiley said the toy drive will include free document shredding (up to four file boxes) to encourage attendance and that the drive accepts unwrapped, new gifts as well as gift cards for teenagers. On finance, Brett Thomas said commissioners previously authorized new funds and appropriations tied to family‑centered services: the board approved creation of a Family First Council fund with an Ohio Department of Mental Health allocation of $68,370 and an early‑intervention Family First grant of $489,989, of which $414,902 is being appropriated now. Those authorizations were part of a nine‑item finance package commissioners approved by roll call. Kiley also provided personnel and program updates: three new hires (transit and sanitary), a promotion, multiple rate increases and routine personnel changes were included in the personnel resolution the board approved during the meeting. She reiterated that treatment foster homes are intended to offer a family setting for children who otherwise would be placed in residential facilities and said the county hopes to build shared capacity across neighboring counties.