Money is needed elsewhere

To the editor: As a former Caseworker for Pike County Children and Youth, I read with interest a recent news article about the county’s plan to implement a “Transitional Living Program”, designed to help teens acquire skills necessary to function in the community like budgeting, applying for jobs, handling bank accounts and securing apartments. I would like to point out to the Commissioners and Dawn Metzger that Section 3131.67 (b)(11)of the Public Welfare Code already establishes the “Independent Living Program,” designed to teach the very skills the “new” county program purports to teach. The Independent Living Program is a state mandated program which is offered to all children in the foster care system that reach the age of 16. Since such a program already exists, the chance of the state helping to fund the new program is nil. If the county truly wants to improve their child welfare agency, they would be addressing the problems of retention of staff by offering competitive salaries and by expanding staff to meet the growing demand for services as the county continues to grow. Frank Molaro Hemlock Farms