Mahoning County Children Services Executive Director Richard Tvaroch, left, explains how Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick influenced him to pursue his job with Children Services in 2023 and how the two have grown to work together to promote child welfare. He spoke at the Pinwheels for Prevention breakfast Thursday in Canfield. Staff photo / Ed Runyan

CANFIELD — Mahoning County Children Services Executive Director Richard Tvaroch told a large audience of child advocates Thursday that in 2023, when he was thinking of applying for the job he has now, a wise friend suggested that Tvaroch talk to Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick.

Tvaroch, who worked in Trumbull County’s Children Services at the time, expressed some trepidation, saying, “She has a reputation for being a little tough.”

The friend said, “‘No, Rick, if you are going to do this, you need to have a conversation with Judge Dellick.’ So I summoned up the courage, and I called her. And not only was she gracious enough to take my call, it was not a cursory five- to 10-minute conversation.

“The first conversation was an hour and a half,” Tvaroch told those attending the annual Pinwheels for Prevention breakfast as part of National Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention Month. The event was organized by Children Services and the Child Advocacy Center at Akron Children’s Boardman Campus.

Tvaroch said they talked about the challenges she has seen over 20 years in her role as judge and “how we could partner together as agencies.” He said that and a second conversation “left me feeling that not only could I work with Judge Dellick, but I wanted to work with Judge Dellick.”

He said he will “forever be grateful” that Dellick “helped give me the courage to take this position.”

He explained that the pinwheel in Pinwheels for Prevention events is a symbol “that every child deserves a safe, stable and happy home. For many children in our community, sadly, this vision has yet to be realized. That is why prevention matters.”

He said prevention means “creating conditions where families are positioned to succeed every day at every moment. It means investing in mental health services, substance-abuse treatment, stable housing and education.

“It means supporting parents, not just holding them accountable. It also means working together. No single system can do this alone — courts, child welfare, law enforcement, community organizations, all play a role. “But so do neighbors, friends, doctors, clergy, teachers. We all have a part.

“Prevention begins with connections. When people feel supported, children are safe, and families and communities are strong,” Tvaroch said.

He said the work “takes time, but the impact is lasting. When we prevent abuse and neglect, we create opportunities to strengthen families, we build healthier communities for the future.” Tvaroch then introduced Dellick, who was the keynote speaker.

DELLICK

She said she prepared for her remarks Thursday by looking to see how many shelters and organizations there are for animals. She tallied 17 before she quit counting.

“And then we have to say, ‘How many are there for our youth?'”

She mentioned the former Daybreak Youth Crisis Center. It was a 10-bed shelter for “homeless, runaway and throwaway kids,” its operations manager, Edward Bunkley explained on a Facebook page. It was on Marmion Avenue in Youngstown.

“Unfortunately that closed,” Dellick said. “So how many shelters exist for our kids in Mahoning County? Anybody know? Zero,” she said.

She said she is a pet lover and understands the compassion people have for animals. “But we should really have that same compassion for our youth because they come to us damaged. And we look at them like they are giving me a hard time. And they are having a hard time. Sometimes we don’t even know what all they have been through.”

She said, “We have to be real. What are we really doing for our youth?” She mentioned that Tvaroch, her and many others in the child welfare business participated for several weeks at Mahoning Children Services in a “convening” over the needs of children.

She said she knows it costs a lot of money to run a “shelter for kids. But it takes a lot of money to run a shelter for pets and dogs. But they are able to do it. So why can’t we? There are a lot of smart people in this room. I am looking around, and I see smart people everywhere. And I’m thinking we need to do it.”

HEARTBREAKING

Dellick said she asked a young person who was in her court and was leaving detention, “Tell me where do you feel safe?” He said the detention center at the juvenile justice center in Youngstown.

“I said ‘No. Tell me, where do you feel safe?’ He thought about it. He said nowhere. Nowhere. I think that breaks our hearts that we have a youth in detention, and he doesn’t feel safe anywhere. So there’s no safe home, safe school, not a safe place for him to go, safe to be a kid. I know that breaks my heart. I know it breaks yours because you wouldn’t be here today.

“So we need to do more. (Tvaroch), the agency spends a lot of money on (child) placements. She said it is about $13,000 per day. “What are we doing? Because we know when we send them to those placements, they’re not coming back better.”

She said something needs to be done in Mahoning County, “And I think we have the momentum to do it, Rick (Tvaroch), and I thank you for it,” she said.

“Right now we do face a national crisis. What is the No. 1 killer of our kids? Suicide.” She said it’s no wonder with the lack of role models in social media “to challenge them to do better, to rise above and to be something. These influencers and faces on Instagram and Snapchat and Facebook, they are not encouraging our youth to do a thing.

“And their mental health struggles are real, especially after the (COVID-19) pandemic.” She said a large number of kids in her court were “not used to going to school, but school was a place where they “got fed, they were around people who cared about them. And at least for like eight hours, they were safe,” she said.

“So I want to know if we are investing in our youth with the same urgency and commitment that we use for our pets? Do we think we can do it? So we all have to go back to our organizations and agencies and say ‘OK, what can we do to get the youth before they come to us, before they fall into a crack or have a crisis?”

She said, “That is when many of you get them once there is a crisis, am I right? And what do we do? If we don’t do something now, it’s just going to get bigger.”

She said in 2014 her court started its “early warning system,” which involves a magistrate and Early Warning System Director Mike Masucci going to schools across the county and meeting with students, parents and administrators.

She said the goal is to address school absences before they become serious because being absent from school is a “leading indicator for delinquency.” She said the program “has helped,” and school officials “are all for it because they wanted the students in school too.”

KEN CARANO

At the end of the program, Mahoning County Children Services Assistant Director Julie Rudolph gave the Community Spotlight Award to Ken Carano, owner of Valley Home Healthcare of Boardman, a 10-year partner of Mahoning County Children Services.

The award is for Carano’s “dedication to the children of Mahoning County,” Rudolph said. Carano, a registered nurse, and his company provide various services in 14 counties in Ohio, including Mahoning.

Among its services are medical screenings for Mahoning County Children Services. Such screenings are required to assess children before they are placed in the custody of the agency to prevent transmission of communicable diseases and identify illness, injury or maltreatment, Rudoph said.

Rudolph said Children Services staff praise Carano highly for his gentleness in his interactions with children and the way his “bedside manner consistently puts them at ease.”