“Clusters”
Ohio was one of the original ten states to receive National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) funding for a Child & Adolescent Service System Program (CASSP) initiative during July 1 1984 through June 30, 1989. 

In Ohio, the idea of "Cluster" began in the mid 1980’s through an Executive Order by the Governor to "put into immediate effect rules for cooperation with other organizations for service delivery to multi-need children."  With the signing of an interdepartmental agreement, "cluster" was signed into law in 1987.  Many families are involved with a number of agencies which are all providing services at the same time.  For instance, a family might be involved with Children's Services, getting assistance through the Department of Human Services and might be involved with Juvenile Court.  The Cluster was started as a way for all these different agencies to work together to help the families they served.  By working together, the agencies could avoid families getting caught up in all kinds of red tape.  It allowed these different agencies to combine their efforts on behalf of families. 

In 1991, a State report showed that most families didn't get involved in their local Cluster until their child was about 13 years old.  By that time, these families were already dealing with a great deal of difficulties.  It was thought that  maybe the Cluster idea could be “beefed up” so that the many systems could begin helping families before children became teen-agers.

So, in 1992, another Executive Order turned the Cluster into the Family and Children First Initiative (ORC 121.37).  At the State Level, the FCFC is composed of directors of all the major State departments that oversee family services at the County Level.  This is known as the OFCF Cabinet Council.  At the County Level, the FCFC is made up of people who work in local agencies.  The The Mental Health and Recovery Board of Greene County, Health Department, Human Services, MR/DD, Children Services, Juvenile Court, the school systems are all involved in Greene County's Family and Children First Council.  The aim of the Greene County FCFC is to maintain  an efficient, effective and responsive county-wide system to provide services to families and children by breaking though the barriers that exist between the various agencies and to help the agencies share resources. 

In 1995, the State of Ohio announced that it wanted Family and Children First Councils to apply for a grant to start programs that leveraged these collaborative efforts toward a reduction in the number of youth who are unnecessarily removed from their homes.  (In 1994, over 25,000 kids were placed in out-of-home care in Ohio.  These placements lasted an average of 180 - 210 days and 25% of the kids were placed more than once.)  The thought was that a large number of the out-of-home placements can be avoided if systemic barriers can be understood and removed. These new programs would serve as “gateways” to placement and, by marshaling the combined resources of all County agencies, could put the right resources in place to avoid or 'divert' many placements.

The Greene County Board of Commissioners established the Greene County's Family and Children First Department in 1996.  One of the tasks of the Department was to oversee the Family Stability Diversion Program, which had been established with one of the State grants.  

Ohio's "Enhanced Commitment" to Family and Children First
Around mid-year 2000, under the leadership of a transition manager, Ohio Family and Children First moved into its own offices in Columbus.   This strong signal of enhanced state level support was further underscored by the hiring of an OFCF "Core Team" comprised of a chief of staff and directors of policy, partnership, programming, performance and communications, a regional director and support staff.   The purpose of OFCF is to "streamline and coordinate existing government services to help families seeking assistance for their children."   The offices are located at 17 S. High Street, Suite 550, Columbus, OH 43215 (614.752.4044).

OFCF state and local partners work to improve the well-being of Ohio's children and families by:

• improving health, education and social service delivery systems
• coordinating these and other child/family-serving service delivery systems
• developing projects and programs that encourage the coordination of efforts at the state and local levels

• Expectant parents and newborns thrive
• Infants and toddlers thrive
• Children are ready for school
• Children and youth succeed in school
• Youth choose healthy behaviors
• Youth successfully transition into adulthood