We hope that today’s “READERS FORUM” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way? WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY? 

WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?

Todays“Readers Poll” question is:  Do you feel that the City of Evansville is having serious cash flow problems?

If you would like to advertise on the CCO please contact us City-CountyObserver@live.com

Life Chain Is Sunday, October 7

On Sunday afternoon, October 7, Right to Life of Southwest Indiana will host the annual Life Chain.  Life Chain is a silent prayer vigil to protect life and oppose abortion.  The Life Chain supporters will gather at Brinker’s Jewelers parking lot at the corner of Green River and the Lloyd Expressway for free refreshments and pick up signs beginning at 1 p.m. The silent prayer vigil is from 1:30-2:30 p.m.  All those who support Life are invited to stand on Green River Road sidewalks beginning at the Lloyd Expressway and going south to Lincoln Avenue.

This is the 31st year of the public witness on behalf of rejected Preborn Children, and Life Chain will fill the sidewalks in over 1,500 cities and towns in the U.S. and Canada. It is an opportunity for people to unite in prayer and to stand up for the rights of the unborn. They will stand in honor of the more than 60 million children whose lives have been lost to abortion in our country since 1973.  Every year young moms report choosing life for their unborn children over abortion after reading the signs and seeing the people praying at the Life Chain.

According to Mary Ellen Van Dyke, Executive Director of Right to Life of Southwest Indiana, “Supporters of unborn babies and their moms will stand together respectfully and prayerfully to honor the sanctity of life. This year with all the attacks against the sanctity of human life, conscience, and religious freedom, many prayers are needed.

”Supporters Of Life Will Hold Signs That Say:

ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN

JESUS FORGIVES AND HEALS

ADOPTION: THE LOVING OPTION

LORD, FORGIVE US AND OUR NATION

ABORTION HURTS WOMEN

PRAY TO END ABORTION

LIFE—THE FIRST INALIENABLE RIGHT

DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD

The Life Chain follows a strict Code of Conduct, is peaceful, and family members, young and old are invited to attend.  Everyone who believes in the protection of unborn children and their mothers is welcome to participate.

Right to Life of Southwest Indiana with 50,000 supporters protects life.  We exist to protect the right to life of innocent human life from fertilization to natural death.

DCS Officials Update Committee On Progress of Changes To Organization

By Dionte Coleman
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Department of Child Services reported back to the Interim Study Committee on Courts and the Judiciary Wednesday about the organization’s charges stemming from the recent annual child fatality report.

The report found that in 2016 abuse and neglect claimed the lives of 59 children in Indiana – most of which were under the age of 3.

The DCS last met with the committee on Sept. 19 to discuss how the agency will implement those changes recommended by an outside agency earlier this year.

Associate Director Todd Meyer said the changes are best for Indiana.

They include creating categories of case managers.

“Ideally, the department wants to have case managers that are doing just the necessities, the investigations. Then we would have case managers that are doing the actual casework. Working with the family and children,” Meyer said during committee testimony.

Meyer said most of the responsibilities across the state are shared among caseworkers. Some do the investigations and are actively working with the families to find the resources needed for the child.

The issue with that is the case managers often are overextended because they have many different open assessments on which they’re working.

Meyer proposed that each family case manager should have no more than 13 cases at one time, provided the person isn’t working on an overly complicated case.

“If there is a really complicated case that a family case manager is working, that needs to be factored into the overall number of cases he or she may be working,” he said.

Meyer said DCS is working on having a 1:5 ratio of supervisors to case managers to have proper management of the cases.

Along with addressing the proper management of cases, Meyer also discussed the response time. The agency recommends that the on-sight assessment of a child in danger is started immediately but must take place within four hours.

“There was the discussion about this issue at our last meeting together, and we’ve been looking at that,” Meyer said. “We’ve studied what some other states are doing. While their statues may end with a period there, their internal policies break it down much more thoroughly.”

While the language of the committee’s final recommendation still has yet to be finalized, committee members and DCS representatives both agreed that slight changes concerning reduction in response time to new cases will allow the report to be moved for a final vote.

FOOTNOTE: Dionte Coleman is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.