Byesville Rotary learns importance of healing the family to save the child

Pictured: Mike Humphrey, Counselor for House of Samuel, and Shana Fair, Speaker Host.

Chicken BBQ this week-end. If you can't work, come by for a chicken or two.

Mike Humphrey described the House of Samuel as a small, non-profit, Christian centered family agency serving Cambridge, Byesville, Guernsey County, and southeastern Ohio. The staff consists of Jim and Candy Barr, who established the agency in 1999, two office staff, two councilors, and Sebastian, a large Labrador who works as a therapy dog. Their mission is to provide family centered adoption, foster care and counseling services to kids and families.

Humphrey is one of the counselors at the agency. He said the House of Samuel networks with other local family and child agencies and refers clients to other agencies as necessary. He pointed out that the House of Samuel will “…help a family with whatever services the family needs,” but that their main focus is to help kids who are at risk and their adopted families or foster parents.

Staff at the House of Samuel will try to reunite a child with his or her family. If that is not possible, they will work to find adoptive or foster parents. Their aim is to place a child in a stable, loving home. Humphrey stated that “Kids who are hard to place end up at the House of Samuel in part because we deal with the children on a 1 to 1 basis.”

Education and training are an important part of services offered. Biological parents, adoptive parents as well as foster parents are trained in how to be better parents and how to deal with troubled children. Children also trained. Many at risk kids have attachment issues and are not able to express feelings of love. Others do not like to be touched. These issues make it difficult for them to be integrated into a family. The goal of training and counseling is to help parents and children build a stable functional family in which children and parents love and respect each other and know how to work through problems together.

The House of Samuel is partially funded by the Department of Jobs and Family Services. Additional funds come from clients who pay for the service themselves, from insurance, and from PASSS (Post Adoptive Special Services Subsidy). Individuals may donate to the agency by visiting their web http://www.housofsamuel.net

Byesville Rotary meets every Tuesday, 7:30 am, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary is welcome to attend a meeting or call 740-685-3828, or 740-685-8294.