Madison County Children Services

What Does Children Services Do?

Children Services is responsible for the care and protection of abused, neglected, and dependent children. Through our services we strive to teach, assist, and enable families to build a strong foundation for their future and for their safety. Children Services' job is to make sure children are safe. We believe that the best place for a child is with his or her family as long as the child is safe. If a child is not safe, we work with the family to change that. We know that parents want to do the best they can for their child and we help families become stronger by providing services and working with parents.

Madison County Children Services provides the following services:
 

Investigation services:

The Children Services Unit investigates reports of abuse and neglect. This unit also assumes responsibility for dependent children.
 
Ongoing Services:

The Children Services Unit provides Ongoing Protective Services to families and children identified to be at risk of further child abuse or neglect. The caseworker works with the family and community resources to strengthen the family and ensure the children are safe and well cared for in their home.
 
Foster Care Services:

The Children Services Unit provides care and safety for children that are unable to be kept safe in their homes due to abuse, neglect, dependency, or unruliness which jeopardizes their safety. Although the majority of children are able to be placed in family foster homes through our managed care contract with The Buckeye Ranch, other children may need more therapeutic and secure placement called residential treatment facilities. These facilities are highly skilled intensive treatment providers that work with children with more severe psychological and/or behavioral problems due to their exposure to child abuse.

Adoption Services:

The Children Services Unit provides care to children who are unable to be safely reunited with their families. These children are placed in the agency's permanent custody. It then becomes our responsibility to recruit and find safe, loving, permanent families for these children.

Alternative Response:

Alternative Response is a form of practice in child protective services that allows for more than one method of response to accepted reports of suspected child abuse and/or neglect. This approach recognizes the variation in the nature of reports and the related value of responding differentially, with either a traditional investigation or a family assessment response. A family assessment response assesses the needs of the child or family and offers services without requiring a formal disposition (substantiation) that maltreatment has occurred or that the child is at risk of maltreatment.

Contact Info: 740-852-4770 or 1-800-852-0243
Or
After hours emergency phone: 740-852-1212 (Madison County Sheriff)

Additional information:

Memorandum of Understanding