{"id":13058,"date":"2012-02-27T16:55:35","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T21:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=13058"},"modified":"2012-02-27T16:55:57","modified_gmt":"2012-02-27T21:55:57","slug":"1st-community-based-child-welfare-meeting-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=13058","title":{"rendered":"1st Com- munity Based Child Welfare Meeting Planned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, March 6th, at 6:30 p.m., members of the community will have the opportunity to meet <strong>Mrs. Lorita Shirley<\/strong>, Executive Director of Eckerd Youth Alternatives (EYA). EYA was awarded the contract after nine children died and HKI (Hillsborough Kids Inc.,) was stripped of it. The meeting will take place at the College Hill Church of God In Christ, 6414 N. 30th Street.<\/p>\n<p>This is the first of several planned community-based Child Welfare and Foster Care Community Forums. Beginning on July 1st, <strong>Mrs. Shirley<\/strong> and her staff at Eckerd Youth Alternatives, will replace Hillsborough Kids Inc.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is to align the community forums with the high removal areas. I want to talk to the people and allow them to tell me their concerns. My goal is to make folks aware of the services available,\u201d <strong>Mrs. Shirley<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are committed to the children. Our kids are pulled from their homes, placed in the system, raised in foster homes and don\u2019t connect with relatives or the community. If we don\u2019t deal with the problem now, then just put your hands in the air when they come back to rob you as teenagers. This is our problem to solve, these are our kids, and I want to hear from the members of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mrs. Shirley<\/strong> further stated that the first meetings are going to take place in the zip codes with the highest number of children removed from homes. She feels that in order to address the problem, the agency must not only be connected to the community, but it must also accept feedback from the residents on how to remove obstacles for improved performance.<br \/>\nIn addition to working within the community, <strong>Mrs. Shirley<\/strong> wants to connect with the churches as well. \u201cWe believe in God and respect for all. I want to reach out to the churches. It\u2019s time for them to step up. I\u2019m also looking for sororities and fraternities who are looking for something to wrap your arms around. We need mentors and places that will offer temporary care for the children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a vision that every child should have the opportunity to succeed. I want to know about what is going on. I want to know if people are not being given the services they need to care for the children and any other problems they may encounter. I need to hear from you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Elder Charles Davis<\/strong>, senior pastor of College Hill Church of God in Christ said, \u201cWe are not only pleased, but honored, to co-host the first of many Community Forums that Eckerd is planning over the next several months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under the guidance of <strong>Elder Davis<\/strong>, College Hill Church of God in Christ has a long history of supporting initiatives that strengthen and support families Hillsborough families.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, contact <strong>Ms. April Putzulu<\/strong> at (727) 461-1236 x. 3331 or visit www.eckerd.org\/hillsborough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor On Tuesday, March 6th, at 6:30 p.m., members of the community will have the opportunity to meet Mrs. Lorita Shirley, Executive Director of Eckerd Youth Alternatives (EYA). EYA was awarded the contract after nine children died and HKI (Hillsborough Kids Inc.,) was stripped of it. The meeting will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}