EATON — According to Preble County Job and Family Services Director Becky Sorrell, Children Services was able to move many children from high dollar placements to less expensive placements, lowering costs for February.

Sorrell gave the Preble County Board of Commissions her monthly report during a meeting on Wednesday, March 28.

She added, the department has been getting a lot of juvenile delinquent youth, which drives department costs up. They have been working with the court, trying to make alternative arrangements for those minors.

“As you know, it really doesn’t affect a change in those youths. So, we’re spending a lot of money on those youths, then they emancipate and go to jail. It’s really a holding pattern for a lot of those kids who are 17 and older,” Sorrell said.

“We had quite a few removals of children this month, which has been a real strain on the staff, since we had quite a few people out. It has been a struggle, but I feel things are starting to smooth out a little bit,” she added. “Not much is changing in Job and Family Services. The numbers are not much different then ever. Things are staying fairly consistent with things going on in the Job and Family Services side.”

She then discussed an article regarding the statewide crisis to retain Children Services staff. She noted, there has been a lot of discussion of how to stabilize children when they are constantly getting new case workers. Because of the crisis, there is a national research project Preble County’s division has been chosen to participate in.

She promised to keep the commissioners updated on the process.