Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services Director Jeff Felton, seated, speaks to Commissioner Josh Meyer on Wednesday about agency activities when the commissioners recognized National Child Abuse Prevention Month. T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Board of Commissioners recognized National Child Abuse Prevention Month on Wednesday and heard from Director of Job and Family Services Jeff Felton about the agency’s work.

Commissioner Josh Meyer asked if the COVID-19 pandemic has changed operations.

Felton said while other counties have received fewer reports of possible child abuse or neglect during the pandemic due to lockdowns and schools being closed, Belmont County numbers have been steadily increasing, with 729 referrals in 2017, 750 in 2018, 907 in 2019, more than 1,100 in 2020 and 1,202 in 2021.

“No drop-off, other than coming from teachers,” Felton said. “The community stepped up and expressed their concerns. … I thought we would see much more of a drop-off.”

“We just have a great staff that goes above and beyond to make sure kids are safe and they’re out there all hours of the day and night making contacts. We’re really appreciative of what they do,” Christine Parker, director of Children Services, said.

“I think we just have a very active community. We received calls from schools and neighbors and family members – anyone that’s concerned can give us a call, and that’s what gets the case started,” she said. “Out of all our cases, I’d say 50 percent are neglect; in general 25 percent physical abuse and 25 percent sexual abuse.”

Parker said the department currently works with about 30 foster families, with four more to join the ranks.

“We always need more foster homes, because as soon as we get them we start filling them up. We actually just finished a pre-service for foster parents this month and we have some new foster parents coming on board, but we could certainly always use more,” she said.

“As they come in, some start retiring, too. They adopt children in their home,” she said. “Most of the children in our care that get adopted, they get adopted by their foster parents.”

Parker said the majority of the children who come into the agency’s custody are reunified with their families.

“Sometimes the kinships take custody of the children if they can’t go back home, and sometimes they’re adopted,” Parker said.

State funds are also provided for a connect-to-families program to find relatives or people in the community where the agency can place a child.

“We usually offer classes twice a year, and we just finished a round but we’ll have more classes coming up in the fall. There’s also opportunities to go to other counties or do some of the classes online,” Parker said.

She also reported on the agency’s programs and partnerships.

She said DJFS also has a contract with the Belmont County Health Department for care cases where infants are born with substance exposure. Staff from the health department visit those families with children younger than 1 year.

“So far we’ve had about 25 referrals,” Parker said.

The department has partnered with Jefferson, Carroll and Harrison counties to submit an application for funding to place children with special needs with foster parents who have additional skills.

“The state’s been pretty generous as far as funding for children’s services, offering different programs, and they continue to provide funds for us to support kinship placements,” Parker said. She added that next month the agency will provide Ohio Valley Mall gift cards for children placed with relatives.

“We have a lot of (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) funds available, so we’ve really tried to support kinship. Even if the case has been closed, they’re still eligible for those supports,” Felton said. “Any kin out there caring for a child who is not their birth child, we feel we need to support any way we can.”

“We appreciate your steadfast work,” Meyer said.