T-L Photo/KAILEY CARPINO Jeff Felton, Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services director, discusses the new Practice in Action Together model.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Jeff Felton, Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services director, told county commissioners last week that his office is implementing a new practice model called “Practice in Action Together.”

“Our statewide association, Public Children’s Services Association of Ohio, has been working for a couple of years on a practice model for child welfare, which we don’t currently have throughout the state,” he said.

Felton said the new model focuses on building relationships between clients and Children Services staff.

“It really is a relationship-driven model. It’s the way we should practice mutual respect, mutual decision making. It’s really a collaborative effort between ourselves and the families that we serve because, ultimately, parents want their kids to do well. They want them to do well in school. They want them to be safe. They may be struggling with addiction, their own history of trauma. These barriers get in the way, and the more we act in an authoritative manner, the more we’re pushing these things away rather than acting in a much more collaborative effort with our families. So that’s the basics behind this model is to really work collaboratively with mutual respect, dignity, honesty and openness,” Felton noted.

He said building relationships with the parents and getting to know them better is especially important.

“We sometimes think if our families just did what we told them to do, because we know better, everything would be fine, but we also know in the long run, our families know more about themselves than we’ll ever know. We have our family team meetings. We think we know a lot, but when you get aunts, uncles, grandparents who would have known the parents all their lives, they have a lot more information about themselves than we will ever be able to gather,” he said.

Felton also said the new program will make practices more consistent.

“Each county has its own judges, and no two judges are really the same, but this is an opportunity or an effort to get some consistency in our child welfare practice,” he said.

Christine Parker, Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services administrator, said county DJFS staff should have no problem making the changes.

“Studies have shown that successful families and getting their child services case closed and reunifying with their kids has a lot to do with their relationship with their caseworker. We’re fortunate our case workers have been around for a while, so they’re able to establish those relationships,” she said.

Felton said he appreciates Belmont County Juvenile Court Judge Albert Davies’ dedication and help.

“We’re really fortunate to have a really good collaborative relationship with our juvenile court judge, Judge Davies, and philosophically, we’re pretty much on the same page in terms of being driven by kinship and trying to keep kids — if they can’t remain with their parents — at least with somebody that they know,” he said.

According to a press release from the state association, “eight county agencies have been selected as champions for change to begin implementing PACT.”

The eight counties are Ashtabula, Athens, Belmont, Champaign, Fairfield, Morgan, Perry and Trumbull.

Felton said each county had to apply to be a part of the program. He said if all goes well in those eight counties, the state will start implementing the program in other counties until the entire state uses PACT.

Felton said he and his team are “excited” to work in one of the first counties to adopt this model.

Commissioner J.P. Dutton said he appreciates Felton and Parker’s work.

“We appreciate the expertise you guys have, and it goes right down to the staff,” he said.

According to the release, Mike Kenney, the state association’s director of strategic initiatives, has spearheaded the project.

“After two years of listening to families, caseworkers and leaders on the journey to co-designing PACT, we believe that this model will result in hope for success and shared dignity between workers and families,” Kenney said. “Relationships are the leading indicator of positive outcomes for families and children. PACT is designed to help caseworkers and families build meaningful relationships through behavioral change and with a relentless focus on family-centered values.”

For more information, visit pcsao.org/pact or call Belmont County DJFS at 740-695-1075.