The first clients under the contract began working with Pressley Ridge on Monday. Anna Robinson, program supervisor for Pressley Ridge described what is happening right now with 14 — they can handle 30 to 35 families at a time — at-risk families.
“They are coming in in crisis seeking parenting education, support for the children in the home, developing a schedule for the children in the home,” she said. “Just looking at what we can do to help stabilize and strengthen that home placement and maintain it… It is very intensive, they see us a lot. We spend whatever time is necessary to increase that’ family’s stability.”
BCCS Director Bill Morrison said he wants to be more “proactive” in preventing child abuse because the placement of a child is traumatic too, even if it’s with a good family.
“Having to remove the child from the home, one thing we know is that it always causes some level of harm to the child, as well as providing safety,” Morrison said. “Because if you think about what we do from the child’s perspective, they’re the one that has to leave the home, it feels like they did something wrong.”
Morrison decided to contract out the FPP in part because Medicaid covers many of the services provided. They can’t bill Medicaid for in-house programs. But also because Pressley Ridge has mental health professionals on staff who can be linked into process.
“We provide mental health treatment in the form of outpatient therapy, psychiatry and family therapy for the families too,” Program Director Matt Mitchell said. “We have therapists in our Butler County office three days a week and a psychiatrist there one full day a week.”
Shannon Glendon, an administrator at BCCS said Pressley Ridge will not only prevent children from being taken from their homes, when possible, but will ensure if they had to be removed they are returned as quickly as possible.
“Another part of the Family Preservation Program is to also be used for children who are out of the home and we’re trying to safely reunify them back with their family,” Glendon said. “So not only will this be engaged on the front end of cases to prevent a removal circumstance for a family, but we’re also looking to get children home faster and be safe.”
Heather Wells, executive director of the Butler County Family & Children First Council, said she has been working closely BCCS and many other collaborators to find ways to get the word out to the public that there are ways to prevent child abuse and neglect. She referenced the tragic story this week when two women allegedly beat a five-year-old boy to death and severely injured his older brother in Middletown.
“They get a lot of articles about these stories about these families who have abused or neglected their children, but really it takes the entire community to protect children,” she said. “So how do we inform the community about what is it that really does keep kids safe from abuse and neglect so that then maybe they can take action to do those things.”
Wells plans to write a series of guest columns for the Journal-News on this topic.
Another BCCS administrator Julie Gilbert said a vigilant community is probably the best weapon against child abuse and neglect.
“It takes a community to protect children and prevent child abuse and neglect,” she said. “We want to encourage our community to contact Children Services or law enforcement if you suspect.”
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