Agency Details:

Joyful Connections

Joyful Connections is dedicated to:

• Providing a healthy, safe and home-like environment where families can interact with one another without fear or threat.
  
  
• Providing for the exchange of children in an environment that is safe and free from conflict.
  
  
• Building partnerships within the community that will support the needs of families it serves.

Description:
Every year, thousands of children enter the court system for various reasons; and, as a result, many of these children are separated from one or both parents. Supervised parent-child visitations are critical to the process of bringing parents and their children back together.

The need for supervised visitations or exchanges may be due to issues related to divorce or separation, domestic violence, protection orders, threats of child abuse, or safety concerns where a neutral setting would increase a familiy's level of comfort and safety.



History:
The idea for a supervised visitation and exchange center in Ottawa County first took shape in 2006, when the Leadership Ottawa County Class of 2006-2007 met with representatives from the Ottawa County Common Pleas Court and the Juvenile Court to discuss the need for this service in Ottawa County. The Leadership Class took up the challenge to educate the public on the need for this service and find individuals interested in coming together to bring the idea to fruition.

In July 2007, those individuals met for the first time and created the Board of Directors for Joyful Connections. In July 2008, they received their approval for 501c3 non-profit status, and began to seek funds from grants and foundations.

In August 2008, the Board secured funding to hire an Executive Director who has developed the center by creating procedures for providing services and recruiting volunteers to staff the center. Joyful Connections opened its doors for service in October 2008. The center has approximately 40 supervised visits and 2 exchanges scheduled per month.



Contact person: Karen Demangos, Executive Director, (phone), (email)

Address:


8200 W. State Rt. 163 Oak Harbor, OH 43449 (See a map)


Web Site: http://www.joyfulconnections.com/pages/welcome.php

Last updated on June 8, 2009