2020 Annual Report

The 2020 Licking County Children and Families First Council Annual Report can be found here. For previous annual reports, please go to the ABOUT page.

Licking County Children & Families First Council response to COVID-19 Restrictions

To maintain social distancing recommendations, audio/video conferencing is being used for Full Council and subcommittee meetings. Audio/video conferencing may also be used when holding Community Support Teaming (CST) family team meetings.

Full Council meeting log in information is found below-- above the calendar.

Please use the CFFC Referral and Release of Information forms (found below) when making a referral to CST services. Staff continue to triage referrals and provide assistance based upon risk for out-of-home placement:

• Low to moderate risk for out-of-home placement- CST offers case consultation, information and referrals to help existing providers care for the family.

• High risk for out-of-home placement- CST staff will work with the referral source to pull a family team together to address the family needs.

ECCC, for children birth to age 8, meets the first Wednesday of each month. Clinical Committee, for children age 9 - age 21, meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. Contact Melanie Fling to be included on the agenda, Melanie.fling@jfs.ohio.gov.

Licking County Children and Families First Council's 2020-2022 Shared Plan provides an agenda for Council members in our work to achieve better results for families and children. Our priorities:

Children/youth with multi-system challenges and their families.

Trauma Informed Care

Collaborative, Community-based early interventions

Parent and family voice

Multi-Systems Services Leadership

We are pleased to announce our new Multi-System Services Supervisor, Melanie Fling. Melanie brings a wealth of experience from her 14+ with Licking County Job and Family Services working in the Children Services Division. Melanie was a foster care specialist for many years and more recently has worked as the Independent Living Specialist. Melanie’s experience working with adoptive families, foster care families and older youth who are emancipating out of foster care brings a fresh perspective with the families served through the Children and Families First Council. Melanie holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology.

It is with gratitude and sadness that we say goodbye to Cindy Webb, who retired from the Multi-Systems Services Supervisor position on March 31. The growth in our Community Support Teaming (CST) staff and increases in both the number of families served and system partners working with our CST staff to serve families, is due in large part to Cindy's leadership. This firm foundation is critical as we overcome these difficult times, grow services and continue to serve more families. THANK YOU, CINDY!