NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) - Tuscarawas County Job And Family Services officials say state funding is available for people taking over caregiver responsibilities for children in their family. 

Director David Haverfield says people can sign up for short-term transition services funding assistance for children under 18 who are settling into a new home.

“You can imagine that we have children that may come through our system another way even, and grandparents, aunt or uncle, a family friend is taking these kids in, they’re going to need clothing. They’re going to need beds. They’re going to need basic supplies,” he says.

Haverfield says separate funds are also available for kinship caregivers of kids under 13, or children under 18 with special needs.

“If kids would need clothes for school or if there’s a need to help pay for some childcare on a limited basis to kind of help a family out. Those are really more services on a longer-term basis to kind of help make sure the child is successful in that particular placement,” he says.

Haverfield says JFS has been handling an uptick in child displacement as a result of the drug crisis, so he says these funds help ensure children are being taken care of in the best way possible.

"We very much believe at our agency that kids do better with families. If they can’t be in their family of origin, they do better with people they know, and if we can put some services in there to help stabilize those placements, that’s really the best thing,” he says.

Haverfield says the state has awarded Tuscarawas county with about $90,000 in kinship caregiver funding.  

WJER RADIO