Overview
Ohio’s local Family and Children First Councils:
- mobilize child and family serving partners to address the needs of children and families by identifying and filling service gaps in the county;
- monitor, evaluate, and communicate progress on efforts to improve the well-being of children and families;
- align services, resources, initiatives, programs and policies in order to reduce the duplication that often occurs at the state and local levels;
- coordinate services and supports for individual families through family-centered team planning to identify existing and needed services, community involvement, and pooled resources;
- recruit and support families to be active contributing members on the Council and advocate on behalf of children and families.
The Clark County Family and Children First Council carries out these duties through a Board of Trustees. The Board operates according to its adopted by-laws.
The Board consists of three Family Representatives and individuals from each of the county organizations required to participate in the local Council:
- Job & Family Services
- County Commission
- City of Springfield
- Family & Children Services
- Mental Health & Recovery Board
- Developmental Disabilities
- Juvenile Court
- Combined Health District
- Springfield City Schools
- Educational Service Center
- United Way
- Head Start
- Youth Services
- Child and Family Collaborative
Quarterly the Clark County Family and Children First Council brings together providers from health, social service, and education programs as the Child and Family Collaborative (content page) for 90 minutes of concentrated information sharing – a valuable use of time for anyone working with children and families in the county.
Child and Family Collaborative Participants:
- Share current information about what is available for parents, children, and families in our community
- Empower parents to become involved and responsible consumers of services
- Learn how to access available services
- Establish linkages between programs and resources
- Distributing handouts and flyers
- Benefit from face to face interactions with other providers
- Develop an understanding other organizations’ roles
- Gain quick access to options service options when needed
- Streamline networking
- Discover program partnerships that provide opportunities to take services to places where they can be more accessible to parents and children
