Spending $3 million on a larger center?

The following article was published in the Columbus Dispatch:

COMMISSIONERS TO VOTE ON $3 MILLION CENTER
Franklin County Children Services aims to build facility comfortable for family visits
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 NEWS 05B
By Encarnacion Pyle THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Correction: CORRECTION PUBLISHED AUGUST 3, 2006 -- * Kent Markus, president of Franklin County Children Services, voted in favor of a $3 million center where parents can visit with their children. Because of a reporter's error, a story on Page B5 of yesterday's Metro & State section indicated otherwise.

Franklin County Children Services plans to build a $3 million center in Franklinton so parents can visit with their kids in a more homelike setting.

"The interactions now are stilted, formal and not at all representative of the normal parent-child interactions necessary to assist our workers in determining our parents' readiness for reunification," Executive Director John Saros said.

The Children Services' board voted 5-1 at a special meeting last night to build the center next to the agency's administrative office, 855 W. Mound St. The proposal now heads to the Franklin County commissioners, who will vote before it can move forward.

Creating a child-friendly environment with age-appropriate rooms, kitchen and play areas is important to making families feel welcome, said Eric Fenner, deputy director of Children Services.

"The more welcomed and supported parents' feel, the more likely they'll be reunited with their kids more quickly," Fenner said.

But board President Kent Markus, who voted against the center, said that if the agency really wanted to return children to their parents more quickly, it would allow more visits at their homes or churches, parks and restaurants.

"If the research says these kinds of centers are discouraging, frightening and intimidating to families, why are we looking at making the world's greatest institutionalized setting?" asked Markus, director for the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University Law School.

For years, parents have complained that they have limited hours to visit their children in sparse, sterile settings. The agency handles about 400 visits a week.

"It's not easy being in a situation where Children Services has your child, and you can only visit them a couple of times a week in a cramped 10-by-10 room with only a few toys for entertainment," said Beth Higginbotham, 28, of the West Side. Her 10-month-old son, Marco Valenzuela, has been in foster care since late last year.

As Higginbotham played with Marco on the floor of a visitation room at a South Side Children Services office yesterday, a toddler ran in and hopped onto a scooter.

"I'm sorry, but there aren't any toys in the waiting" area, the toddler's mother said. "She gets so cranky if she isn't busy."

"It gets so crazy around here," said Higginbotham, whose 9-year-old daughter, Ashley, was playing in the corner.

"I only have two, two-hour visits a week with my son, and I want to make it as fun and memorable as I can. A new center would help."

If approved by the commissioners, the center would have at least 18 visitation rooms that would separate babies, toddlers, tweens and teens. Children Services now uses 27 rooms, including a few conference rooms, at four sites for family visits, but the new center would have extended visits.

Parents would be able to visit their children at the new center, which is projected to open late next year, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

"Right now, parents can only see their children one night a week after 5 p.m.," Saros said.
The new center also would feature a dining room for birthday parties, foster-parent lounge, kitchenette and indoor and outdoor playgrounds.

Instead of simply chatting with their children, parents would be encouraged to read to them, help them with homework and engage them in educational play.

To help, Children Services is talking to COSI Columbus about teaming up to create interactive games that individuals can use to build their parenting skills.

Social workers would be able to monitor the visits through two-way mirrors, closed-circuit TV and audio equipment.

"It is entirely possible that by increasing the number and availability of visits, we might reduce length of stay in paid care," Saros said.
epyle@dispatch.com