TVN Akron Offers In-Home Family Stability Services
AKRON, Ohio - The Akron office of The Village Network (TVN) has entered into a contract with Summit County Children Services (SCCS) to provide In-Home Family Stability Services for children and families receiving SCCS services. SCCS is the only agency within Summit County mandated to provide services to abused and neglected children.
The program is offered in part through an agreement with Summit County Department of Job and Family Services (SCDJFS) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funding. SCCS initiated a pilot in August 2005 and continued services through the use of TANF funds beginning in February of 2006. Recently, contracted services expanded to include TVN-Akron according to Diana Zelasko, quality improvement manager, SCCS.
The primary goal of the program is to maintain children in their own home or stabilize kinship placements as needed if children enter agency care. The program provides parents with social, emotional, parental and educational support to reduce the family's stress and minimize the risks of abuse and neglect to the children.
Services to kinship families include assisting with the child's transition from their own home to a temporary placement with relatives or significant others while parents address areas of concern.
"We provide the family with the help needed to get through whatever the crisis while safely maintaining the child in their own home or kinship placement," said Dave Stauffer, In-Home Family Stability program manager for TVN. "Services may include home-based counseling, case management, identifying and strengthening the families' support systems and connecting families to available community resources. Services are available 24/7 for 90 to 120 days."
TVN-Akron is currently working with five families and has a program capacity of 10 to 12 families at any one time. The TVN staff is housed at the N. Main St. facility along with the TVN foster care program which has been situated inside Summit County since 1990. The Akron Network also operates residential and day treatment programs.
The In-Home Family Stability program is a good fit for TVN-Akron according to Chuck Baldwin, program director for Akron facility.
"The Village Network's Continuum of Care structure has the flexibility to follow our youth from intense residential treatment through to treatment foster care, foster care and into independent living," said Baldwin. "Serving Summit County by providing an in-home stabilization program is a natural for our structure."
The Village Network has been a safety net for troubled and traumatized youth for over 60 years. In addition to the In-Home Family Stability Program, TVN operates residential treatment, day treatment, treatment foster care and alternative school programs through 11 locations across the state. For more information on The Village Network visit the web at www.thevillagenetwork.org.