Published: July 23, 2008 12:08 pm         

New child services office

Open house scheduled at downtown Logansport location

As part of a statewide effort to improve services, the Indiana Department of Child Services recently moved to downtown Logansport.

The newly renovated office is on the fifth floor of the Logan Square building at 300 E. Broadway. Just across from the courthouse, the new address provides a central location for clients.

“Primarily, we want to be in a place that is accessible to the public,” said Jeff Lozer, general counsel for the Department of Child Services.

Lozer was in town recently to visit the office for the first time. He said Cass County’s office was one 40 in Indiana moving to new, professional office space.

The move from 1714 Dividend Drive is part of the state’s effort to reduce caseloads for managers and increase the level of attention paid to each case. Lozer said that caseloads had been too high so the state nearly doubled the number of case managers over the last six months from 800 to about 1,600.

Cass County has gone from four case managers to six. The supervisor went from part-time to full-time. The local office now has a full-time staff attorney as well.

“We hope with a well-maintained system of care here that we’re going to be able to keep caseloads at the current state,” Lozer said.

Each manager will handle no more than 17 cases at any given time. That ratio will permit a more meaningful impact on the child, Lozer said.

The Department of Child Services administers child support, child protection, adoption and foster care throughout Indiana. It was formed in 2005 through an executive order by Gov. Mitch Daniels. It split from the Family & Social Services Administration in order to establish a separate agency that aims to keep children safe from abuse and neglect and to find permanent homes.

“We’re all about safety and permanency,” Lozer said.

Other services include Community Partners, a program that provides in-home services such as family preservation, intensive reunification services, counseling, tutoring, parenting classes and family assessments. Families wanting more information on Community Partners can call (574) 722-2901.

The new office has a conference room, an observation room for supervised visitations or taking testimony from a young victim and a private work area where files protected under confidentiality laws are kept. The department signed a 10-year lease for the space.

Brian Brown is the incoming director in the Cass County office. Brown is a Child Services employee in White County and was formerly employed in Cass County. He officially starts in Logansport on July 28.

Kevin Lilly can be reached at (574) 732-5117, or via e-mail at kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com



New office open house

• The Indiana Department of Child Services will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house at its new location in Cass County. The public is invited to attend from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday at 300 E. Broadway in Logansport. The phone number is (574) 722-3677.



Child abuse hotline

• To report child abuse or neglect, call the toll-free, 24-hour hotline at (800) 800-5556.