CHOICES Inc.: Making Sure No Kids Are Forgotten
As many of us take this season to remember and celebrate the love of our families, it's a way to appreciate all of the things that we have and take for granted. Such a season can be hard for kids in the foster care system as they try to adjust to new lives and new families.
CHOICES Inc.: Making Sure No Kids Are Forgotten
As many of us take this season to remember and celebrate the love of our families, it's a way to appreciate all of the things that we have and take for granted.
Says Ashley Schiffer, development director at CHOICES, Inc., such a season can be hard for kids in the foster care system as they try to adjust to new lives and new families.
It's the mission of CHOICES, a Southwest Ohio non-profit group, to make sure this holiday season, no kids are forgotten.
Dayton Local: How did CHOICES get started?
Ashley Schiffer: "We've been around for 26 years. We were started by two women, Gina Frasier and Anita Patton. They started CHOICES because they thought they could better serve families with case management. So they started with a handful of foster families, and since then we've grown to foster programs as well as other programs that help youth in the community."
DL: What services does CHOICES provide, and what kinds of difficulties do kids have navigating the system?
AS: "A lot of people know about foster care, but not a lot of people know the need to help the youth as they emancipate from foster care. A lot of times when they turn 18, the county says they’re done in the system and expects them to go live a successful life, which is usually not the case; so we have an independent living program which helps youth 17 to 21 transition into adulthood and teaches the life skills they need. They move into their own apartment. We take furniture donations that they need because when a kid comes into that program we furnish an apartment for them completely."
"Also, we are looking for mentors to help them, we have a mentoring program which is important for foster kids."
"In addition, we have a home-based services program. It's to give the child services they need - which a lot of time are mental health related - and work with the parents on different community resources and parenting techniques to prevent the child from being removed from the home. That's a newer program, and it's been very successful in keeping families together."
"Since its Christmastim,e our big thing is providing all of our kids with a Christmas gift. A lot of the older kids live in apartments on their own, so we rely on community support and donations. It really is the community support that gives the kids the opportunities to learn to play an instrument, or to go to a baseball game, or to go to summer camp for a week. For all the donations we get, we incur no costs on our end since we are a nonprofit."
DL: How many kids do you serve?
AS: "Our area is Southwest Ohio. We have kids in Dayton, Clark County, Springfield and a Cincinnati office as well. We have about 30 older kids in independent living, which is really high. Usually we're around 20. We have about 90 in foster services and 120 in home-based services programs. These kids need these services and skills to succeed and we're happy to provide them."
DL: How can people contribute?
AS: "Mentoring, monetary support is essential, but when people donate to us, the donations go directly to the kids going to summer camp or an activity to do; we do furniture donations; school supplies; and toiletries."
Help Provide 20 Families with a Christmas Dinner
"We're also looking to provide 20 Christmas meals to our families. We have the turkeys and ham from a donor, but we're looking for side items for that meal."
