Perry County Children Services
About Perry County Children Services
Perry County Children Services
Amy L. Frame, Executive Director
526 Mill Street
New Lexington, OH 43764
(740) 342-3836 - Phone
(740) 342-5531 - Fax
Website: https://www.perrycountykids.org
Mission
The mission of Perry County Children Services is to protect children from serious maltreatment, to make reasonable efforts to safely keep children in their own homes, and to provide permanency for children who must be removed from their families for their own safety. However, the protection of children is a shared concern for the Perry County community.
Perry County Children Services educates community about Human Trafficking efforts | December 20, 2023
At the 2023 Perry County Ohio Safety Day, County employees heard Jasmine's heartfelt and courageous story about human trafficking. Human trafficking training is a foundational requirement for all children service caseworkers in the state of Ohio. The citizens of Perry County may have questions about how Perry County Children Services serves our youth and prepares our staff for human trafficking situations.
At the 2023 County Ohio Safety Day, County employees heard Jasmine's heartfelt and courageous story about human trafficking. Human trafficking training is a foundational requirement for all children service caseworkers in the state of Ohio. The citizens of Perry County may have questions about how Perry County Children Services serves our youth and prepares our staff for human trafficking situations.
At the 2023 County Safety Day, Perry County employees heard Jasmine's heartfelt and courageous story. After 20 years in service to child welfare, I can tell you that her story was hard to hear.
The citizens of Perry County may have questions about how Perry County Children Services serves our youth and prepares our staff for situations like she described. While Jasmine's story did not unfold in Perry County, l am proud to share with you some of the work that we are doing here to prevent the circumstances she described.
Human trafficking training is a foundational requirement for all children service caseworkers in the state of Ohio. Caseworkers in Ohio receive 104 hours of CORE training within the first year of employment and 36 hours of specialized training annually in a variety of child welfare related topics. In addition, there are mechanisms built into our state automated system to immediately identify suspected cases of human trafficking at the screening level, when a report comes into our agency. Every single case we investigate is thoroughly evaluated using tools that were developed by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
We are part of a multidisciplinary team with the Harcum House Child Advocacy Center, whose functions include forensic interviewing, physical exams, and victim advocacy for those affected by child sexual abuse or other severe forms of abuse and neglect. This team includes the Perry County Sheriff’s Office, Perry County Prosecutor’s Office, Perry County Board of Developmental Disabilities, and Perry Behavioral Health Choices.
As a state and as a county, we are continually striving to improve upon the systems that serve our children, and we must remain vigilant and willing to re-evaluate our practice. Perry County Children Services recently launched our School Outreach program, which provides a caseworker for one elementary school in each of our four school districts. We are already in talks with districts about expanding the School Outreach Program to more schools. In Crooksville, we have approved the purchase of a curriculum for prevention of human trafficking. And we are partnering with the Perry County Health Department on a grant that will address Adverse Childhood Experiences through that same curriculum, which we will pilot at New Lexington Elementary. Preventing child abuse and neglect is the primary objective of this new School Outreach Unit. We will work tirelessly to create the safe spaces that Jasmine spoke of in her passionate testimony.
I left the Safety Day training feeling a deep sense of sadness for what Jasmine endured, but also a renewed passion and hope that together as a community we can prevent this type of narrative from occurring in Perry County. We are fully committed to this work and appreciate the light that was cast on this very important and significant issue facing us all.
