T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services Administrator Christine Parker informs the Belmont County Board of Commissioners of 2024 statistics.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services Director Jeff Felton and Administrator Christine Parker provided commissioners some context about the importance of observing it.

Felton informed commissioners that DJFS will be hosting its annual Child Abuse Prevention Month luncheon next at noon April 17 at Undo’s West.

“We just appreciate everybody’s support. The levy last year passed, so it really is a community effort to keep kids safe and families intact, to give the kids the best chance that they have,” Felton said.

In November, voters approved a levy that replaced the 0.65-mill levy that existed at the time. The new 0.45-mill measure resulted in a reduction of 0.20 mills. The purpose of the levy is providing support for Children Services and for the care and placement of children in Belmont County.

Parker told commissioners that in 2024, DJFS received 1,545 calls that resulted in 451 intakes.

“Most of the calls were from mandated reporters, and it’s just interestingly enough split between law enforcement, medical personnel and school employees,” Parker said.

She then added that DJFS completed 1,254 visits with children in 2024.

Parker said that as of Wednesday morning, DJFS currently has 61 children in its custody. She noted that a lot of those children are babies who have been exposed to drugs.

“Last year, 45 children entered into our custody and 42 of those 45 exited our custody, with most of them being reunified with their parents. Some were given custody to relatives, and some were adopted,” Parker said.

She added that in addition to those 42 children, DJFS also had 47 kinship placements, 34 foster care placements, 12 children adopted and three into residential treatment in 2024.

Parker said she and her team have made it a point to put the “Practice in Action Together” plan in use in 2024. The “PACT” model focuses on building relationships between clients and Children Services staff.

PACT resulted from a case study completed in 2023 to help determine which caseworker behaviors are most associated with positive relationships with families. Based on input from 162 caseworkers and 85 families, there was clear agreement that respecting, listening and being vulnerable were the most important caseworker behaviors. Data from the research is helping to inform the initial implementation of “PACT,” according to the Public Children Service Association of Ohio.

Felton then said he believes his team is able to have such an effective impact within the community because of the great working relationship between DJFS, the Belmont County Board of Developmental Disabilities and the Belmont County Mental Health and Recover Board.

“There’s not a meeting that I go to, especially in Children Services, that Belmont County isn’t mentioned in a very positive way,” Felton said.