Family Preservation participant Misty Robbins, 34, and her nine-child family learned life lessons while planting a garden.
(See Robbins family story, below.)

(First in a Series)
Hamilton County Children’s Services reactivated its Family Preservation program earlier this year. Family Preservation provides short-term intensive case management to strengthen and preserve families. Case management services assist families with addressing the originating safety concerns that created a crisis within a family.

Through intervention, families learn to nurture children and improve family functioning. Family Preservation provides a family with skills to handle any crisis, eliminating future out-of-home placement of children. The goal is to establish community connections with the family and build a network of assistance for future use.  

Family Preservation workers help families identify and build upon strengths. They link families with community resources to support their move toward self-sufficiency. They build positive relationships so families become more likely to turn to them at times of crisis.

Four social workers in the Family Preservation unit keep in close contact with families for six weeks, visiting a home several times a week. They maintain flexible schedules so they can visit weekends or other times when family members are home. They’re on-call for crisis situations at all times. 

“We pride ourselves in empowering families,” said Maura Kennedy-Anaya, a Family Preservation worker. “We do whatever it takes to assist families in helping themselves.” 

Erica Bradley, the unit’s supervisor, added: “We have more time to make a difference with a family than an Ongoing worker, whose time is limited due to larger caseloads.” She noted that Ongoing workers can make referrals to Family Preservation by contacting the Staffing unit.  

Here is the first in a series of articles about families involved in Family Preservation. 

Family Preservation worker Maura Kennedy-Anaya helped 34-year-old Misty Robbins and her nine children plant more than vegetables while tilling a garden this spring. They sowed lessons about teamwork, communication, appreciation, resourcefulness and life.

“Despite all of the hard work and sweat equity, Misty made this a good experience for her children,” Kennedy-Anaya said. “That’s the way she is. Even though she’s had a very hard life, she’s a very positive about her kids. You can see it in them.” 

The neatly dressed children, ages 1-17, proudly pointed out the tomatoes, peppers, carrots, pumpkins, watermelons, sunflowers and broccoli sprouting in early June. Younger kids took turns giving their mother hugs as they circled the brick-bordered soil in the side lot of the public housing townhouse in Avondale. 

Robbins, meanwhile, expressed appreciation for Kennedy-Ayana, who had helped the family furnish an empty apartment with items purchased second-hand or secured through donations. The family had only bags of clothing after moving from a dangerous neighborhood. A bag with family photos was tossed after being confused with bedbug-infested trash. 

Children’s Services got involved in the case due to an incident where a child went to school with a wet shirt and played in the snow. This brought some problems to the agency’s attention. The shirt was wet because Robbins was washing clothing in a sink and trying to dry over a stove. Since then, Kennedy-Ayana found a $40 washer/dryer that her husband retrieved with their minivan.  

“Maura’s a great person,” said Robbins, smiling as she held the 1-year-old. “She even comes over on Saturdays, when she didn’t have to. I’ve had a good, positive experience with her.” 

Kennedy-Ayana beams a smile in return as she explains how the children organized in a “bucket patrol” to carry off debris and clear a garden plot. 

“Not only is this a project in which the whole family worked together,” she said. “The children are being educated on plants and will experience what it is like to care for them and be able to eat them.” 

They also learned about math, horticulture, “good bugs and bad bugs,” companion plants and organic gardening techniques. 

Robbins mapped out the garden, using a Martha Stewart Gardening 101 book from Kennedy-Ayana. An individual donor contributed $100 for tools and plants. The Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati donated seeds. Al Neyer Inc. gave bricks from a nearby construction site.  

Inside the apartment, donated and good-quality used items decorate a space that once held just air mattresses. Kennedy-Ayana taught Robbins how to shop within budget while furnishing the apartment. Robbins showed off a prize possession: A TV table rescued from the trash and refurbished. 

Kennedy-Ayana asked one of the children to show a poster they made for Mother’s Day. The children finished the sentence “My mom is great because…” with: “She takes care of us by herself.” “She’s nice.” “Best mom ever.” “Feeds us.” “Gave us all birth.” “Never gives up.” “Lets us go outside.” “Gives us all she can.” 

Erica Bradley, the Family Preservation unit supervisor, noted how the program can build on positives such as these and help strengthen families. 

“We’re able to put our social work skills to use with a goal of preserving the family,” Bradley said.