For Grandparent turned Caregiver, Struggle is Worth It… and Why FCCS Levy Invests in Kinship

While working two jobs and considering a third, Sonya Smith is raising her 16, 13, and 10-year-old grandchildren. Her 12-hour workdays are a struggle, she admits, but knowing the children have a safe home keeps Ms. Smith going.

When children can no longer safely stay with their parents and need a place to stay, caseworkers at Franklin County Children Services first search for relatives and others close to the family - such as teachers, coaches, church members, neighbors, or family friends - who can provide a caring, familiar environment where the children might better cope with the trauma of separation. 

Grandparents like Ms. Smith often are the first to step up to help keep kids safer. “I couldn’t see them going out into the world without my protection,” she said.  

According to the national Annie E. Casey Foundation, more than 127,000 children in Ohio between 2020 and 2022 relied upon a family relative or other adult with whom they have a family-like relationship as their primary caregivers.

Recognizing the challenges that kinship providers can face - including the financial hardship of unexpectedly caring for a child - the 2024 Children Services Levy includes millions of dollars in new investments in additional kinship supports, higher kinship stipends, and wider access to resources.

For the past eight years, Ms. Smith has relied upon support to care for her grandchildren, after she says their father and mother could not offer a safe, stable home.

Looking forward, she sees bright futures ahead for her grandchildren: “They’re all good kids.”

Her 16-year-old granddaughter Kimora works part time, takes college courses, and wants to become a traveling nurse. At 13, Tariq loves video games and playing football - and hopes to go to the NFL or become a gamer. Ten-year-old Taraj loves soccer and reading about animals. He’s also “the one in the family who knows all of the answers during trivia games,” Ms. Smith said. 

All three enjoy science and math, and Ms. Smith makes sure education is a priority for them. 

“I encourage them to keep their grades up, and everybody knows they have to get scholarships,” she said.

To further encourage the children, Ms. Smith recently went back to school for her job as a community health worker, completing a rigorous training program at The Ohio State University and receiving a certification. 

“I hope that showed them you have to go to school and study to get what you want,” she said. 

Read more about the new initiatives in the 2024 FCCS Levy, including Kinship Support and Community Prevention, at https://fccs.us/fccs-levy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Safer Together: First FCCS Director of Safety and Security Selected

Image
Adding another layer to the strategies designed to keep Franklin County Children Services staff and visitors to FCCS buildings protected and safe - and championing a new “Safer Together” approach to security - the agency has welcomed its first official Director of Safety and Security. Robert Collins joined the FCCS Team in mid-November with more than 30 years of private and public safety, security, and emergency management experience. And he’s already been busy. “It will take all of us to keep the agency safe and each other safe,” Mr. Collins shared. “This position will be the lead on enhancing, implementing, and overseeing our comprehensive safety and security efforts,” according to FCCS Executive Director Chip Spinning. “We want Robert to be the point-person in security-related discussions, for emergency and crisis planning, and as a liaison between FCCS and local first responders.” Mr. Collins will also chair the agency’s Safety Committee and is in the process of meeting FCCS staff
Read more

FCCS Volunteers Comfort, Care for Children during Crisis

Image
As a volunteer in Franklin County Children Services’ Crisis Center, Michalle DiGiovine fondly recalls dining on “pretend food” and playing “restaurant” with a promising culinary staff of five young children as they tried out recipes prepared on a plastic range.  “It felt good that they could come to me - a stranger - to pretend and laugh a little,” she said, remembering how she connected with the youngsters, all the under the age of 10, who had just endured an extremely traumatic experience at home. As January is National Mentoring Month, it’s a great time to recognize the Crisis Center volunteers who help protect children by allowing them to escape from tumultuous situations for a time and feel safe and cared for.  Mentors and volunteers play an important role at FCCS in surrounding children who come into the agency’s care with kindness and support, letting children know they are not alone. It’s part of the agency’s strategy to protect the “whole” child - mind, body, and heart.  A pla
Read more

FCCS Visitation Keeps Families Connected

Image
When young people can no longer stay with a parent, it’s still critically important to help kids maintain connections to their loved ones. And over the past year, Franklin County Children Services has coordinated thousands of safe visits to connect children and separated parents - and used the time that families are together to connect them with additional support.  Regularly-scheduled family visitation is an opportunity for children who are in out-of-home care and their parents to spend quality time together, with the ultimate goal of family reunification.  In 2023, FCCS has coordinated more than 6,000 of these family visits over the course of the year. LaTisha Sterling is one of 34 FCCS social service aides (SSA) who helped facilitate these meaningful family gatherings. “My passion is helping people… being an advocate for the people we serve,” says Sterling, who works primarily out of FCCS’s West Region office on Frank Road.  With both a bachelor’s and a master’s degrees in social wo
Read more