Richland County Children Services honors outgoing board members
December 13, 2011
Richland County Children Services honored outgoing board members Joe Palmer and Connie Hoffman on Monday evening during the final meeting of their long tenure on the agency board.
Palmer, executive director of the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library, served for 12 years on the volunteer board. Hoffman, who worked at the agency as a social worker and administrator for more than 30 years before retiring, served for seven years on the board.
Both received proclamations from the agency administrators and employees and other awards. Agency Executive Director Randy Parker announced a college scholarship in Hoffman’s name would be awarded annually, based upon funds she had donated to the agency over the years. He also announced the agency had created a library/resource room inside the agency that would be named in Palmer’s honor.
Palmer said caring for children is an important part of his life.
“It’s been a honor to serve on the board, working for children and protecting children and making sure children are safe in Richland County,” Palmer said. “It’s been a priority of mine professionally on the board and personally as an adoptive parent.
“This has been a very successful time on the board and it’s positioned for the future, especially in the Kinship program. It’s just been rewarding to be a volunteer for the community on the Children Services board.”
Hoffman said she is proud of her work as a board member and an agency employee.
“As a board member, I have watched the agency grow so much and become so much more fine-tuned. The financial situation is great … so improved over the years. We have added so many more social workers and added more services and programs,” Hoffman said.
“The agency has become so much stronger over the years in terms of services to children and families in Richland County, either out of our facility or in referrals to other agencies we can assist,” Hoffman said. “When I started as a full-time worker, we had a little section of the fourth floor of the courthouse. It was a pleasure to see that growth as a worker and then as a board member.”
The agency has received national and state honors during the duo’s tenure on the board, including a U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Excellence in Adoption award, which acknowledged the timely efforts of the agency to provide safe, permanent homes to children in need.
The agency also successfully implemented the ProtectOhio flexible funding model during their time on the board, dramatically reducing the number of children entering the agency’s custody and their time spent in foster care. Instead, more children are now kept safely in their own homes or live with relatives in the Kinship program.
Their leadership also helped the agency collaborate with several other Ohio county child protective service agencies to apply for and receive a federal Fostering Connections grant, which has enhanced local Kinship efforts.
During the tenure, the agency also successfully launched the Alternative Response program, recognizing that reports of child abuse and neglect have different levels of severity. AR allows the agency to tailor its response in a manner consistent with the alleged abuse or neglect.
Both Hoffman and Palmer were on the board when the agency successfully approved tax levy renewals and also joined in the unanimous vote to forego collecting on $1 million in voter approved property taxes in 2011. That one-time decision was made to allow local residents to keep more of their own money during a tough economic time.
Hoffman and Palmer also played key roles on the board when the agency expanded and renovated its facility at 731 Scholl Road , creating needed additional space for agency staff to provide needed services to children and families in Richland County.
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