Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Strategy Division
DEIS Mission: LCCS incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion in its internal and external practices to foster belonging and empowerment and promote an inclusive culture where our services drive innovation and change.
DEIS Vision: We envision a workplace environment that lives its commitment to equity through agency policies, practices, and operations that lead to effective strategies and actionable outcomes. This will be done through research education, and advocacy.
There continues to be current trends in child welfare both locally and nationally, that have resulted in various disproportionate outcomes, particularly in our urban communities. LCCS is proactively addressing this matter by evaluating many of our reasonable efforts and internal practices as well as partnering with our Community Leaders for effective service(s) intervention and overall wraparound support.
At Lucas County Children Services our aim is to lead our community in the protection of children.
To support this collaborative effort and ensure the delivery of equitable services and programs, the Directors team created & established the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Strategy (DEIS) Department. This initiative is also an added goal of the LCCS Strategic Plan.
At Lucas County Children Services our aim is to lead our community in the protection of children.
Foster care provides licensed, substitute caregivers for children whose birth parents or family of origin are unable, for any number of reasons, to provide a safe, stable, and nurturing environment in their own home. Foster care provides children with a temporary, family setting in order to preserve relationships, promote well being, and ensure permanency for children.
When a child cannot live safely at home, LCCS first looks to a suitable relative to provide care. Many children who are in substitute care live with relatives or with “kin,” such as a close family friend, teacher, etc. When no relatives or kin are available, the child is placed with a foster family. Foster parents provide daily care for children until they return home or permanency is achieved. Not only are they surrogate caregivers; they often provide ongoing support to the child’s birth family before and after reunification.
Foster parents become advocates for the child: at school, with healthcare professionals, and with the child’s caseworker. Most importantly, foster parents provide care in a family setting. Children entering foster care are victims of abuse, neglect, and/or dependency. They need guidance, nurturing, and a stable environment where they can feel protected and safe. Children with more serious needs receive specialized care in one of our treatment foster homes.
All foster homes are licensed by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in cooperation with Lucas County Children Services. Foster homes are recertified every two years. Prospective foster parents must complete the free, pre-service training, have a completed home study, and agree to a criminal background check. In Lucas County, there is a continuous need for foster parents to care for children. LCCS also seeks out individuals with special skills – mental health, developmental disabilities, special education, law enforcement, and others – to become treatment caregivers.
Internal DEIS Activities:
Lunch & Learn Gatherings: Sessions that feature a different host/presenter with a focus of various topics in the area(s) of staff education, development and/or community resource awareness and partnerships. The sessions are held monthly and available to all LCCS staff.
Across Departments: In order to promote equity and improvement in our service delivery and everyday practice, DEIS partners with our various service areas to help improve everyday practice by addressing any LCCS disproportionate service delivery outcomes.
DEIS Training: Various levels of training are provided for staff, that include but not be limited to addressing: Engagement, Policy, Cultural Awareness/Humility, Implicit Bias, Caseworker New Hires, Current DEI Trends & Events, etc. A representative from the DEIS team is available to meet with staff — individually, by unit or department.
Client Family Feedback Survey: Questionnaire available for every family who attends Case Review Staffing meeting, to share their overall experience.
DEIS Committees:
- Policy
- Fatherhood
- Very Important Perspective (VIP) Feedback/Suggestion Box for LCCS
- Employees
- Health & Wellness
- Diversity
- Women In the Workplace
- Spirituality & Religion
- BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)
- Neurodiversity & Working w/ Disabilities
- Generations: Our Differences
External DEIS Activities:
- Quality Assurance Disproportionality Dash Board
- Race Equity Community Partnership
- Faith Based Affiliates
- Interministerial Alliance
- Toledo Community Coalition
- United Pastor’s Group
- Community Cultural Events
- LCCS Listening Sessions & Speaking Engagements
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
- Mental Health & Recovery Services Board
Functions of DEIS Division
Civil Rights Coordinator
Our civil rights coordination is responsible for ensuring compliance with civil rights laws and regulations within the organization. This includes overseeing and implementing policies and procedures to prevent discrimination based on race, gender, age, disability, or other protected characteristics. Overall, the civil rights coordinator plays a crucial role in promoting equity, diversity, and fairness within the organization and upholding the principles of civil rights for all individuals. Additionally, the Coordinator may develop and implement outreach programs to engage with diverse communities and ensure equal access to services and opportunities for all individuals. Although, the coordinator role does not directly investigate complaints of discrimination, harassment, or other civil rights violations, it does lead and communicate all correspondences requested by BEAD, who is the lead in all investigations. The Civil Rights Coordinator will uphold all of the listed civil duties, meanwhile promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in its’ overall process.
Parent Empowerment Institute (PEI)
The mission of the Parent Empowerment Institute (PEI) is to partner with the local community by helping to support and strengthen the knowledge, skills and abilities of either our parents and/or caregivers.
PEI provides workshops on a wide variety of skills to support parents, grandparents, foster parents, and other caregivers, with the goal of preventing child abuse before it occurs. This program can be particularly helpful for caregivers coping with the challenge of parenting children with few community programs and/or available resources. The PEI program is part of LCCS strategic plan, which includes a commitment to reducing the number of children in our foster care system.
Training and Development
The DEIS Training and Development Department is home to the Northwest Ohio Regional Training Center, providing quality, relevant, and culturally informative training(s) to prospective and current resource families across a 16-county area. The Training and Development team includes a Professional Development Coordinator, who is responsible for fulfilling the specialized training needs of child welfare professionals and other agency personnel. A Parent Empowerment Institute Coordinator (PEI), providing parenting education and advocacy to parents and caregivers in the community. Lastly, a Social Programming Caregiver Coach, who provides coaching, training, support, and intervention strategies for foster, adoptive, kinship, as well as other caregivers that may serve in a caregiver capacity.
Quality Assurance
The LCCS Quality Assurance (QA) Team is responsible for utilizing and integrating measurable data to monitor and evaluate both the direct and indirect service delivery outcomes that impact our LCCS children, families, and at times, staff. Based on the review outcomes, any relevant data findings can be shared on a quarterly basis with internal staff, the LCCS Board of Trustees, and/or our community partners, at large. In addition, QA acts as a liaison between LCCS, the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, and the Council on Accreditation to ensure that LCCS practices are both transparent and compliant with statewide standards.
DEIS Team:
Hope Bland, Director
419-283-5489
hope.bland@jfs.ohio.gov
Charles Williams, Manager
419-213-3753
charles.williams@jfs.ohio.gov
Maleeka Kynard, Coordinator
419-213-3654
maleeka.kynard@jfs.ohio.gov
