12/12/2025

Family and Children First Council seeks to improve well-being of families

Dan Cooley

The key component of Defiance County Family and Children First Council (FCFC) is to make life better for children and their families.

But the question is, how does the Defiance FCFC accomplish its goal of making life better, when just one person works in the Defiance FCFC office? The answer is through networking.

Defiance FCFC Coordinator Julie Voll works closely with council chair Erin Stieth and several organizations. One member from 13 specific organizations is mandated by the state to meet with Speith and Voll in a council meeting twice per month. The meetings take place on the second floor conference room at Defiance County East on East Second Street.

While the 13 council members are mandated to be there, Spieth said that the meetings are well attended with 20 to 25 people on hand.

“The extras who come, sometimes parents, usually find people from different organizations who can help them contact people, so they can get what they need,” Spieth said. “Everyone seems to get something out of the meetings, including parents getting some key contacts.”

Some of those Voll works closely with are from organizations such as the Four County ADAMhs Board, Defiance County Health, Defiance-Paulding Consolidated Job and Family Services, the Defiance County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center, City of Defiance mayor or administrator, the Defiance City Schools superintendent, Department of Youth Services juvenile officer, Defiance Head Start and Early Intervention supervisor. Also, the Defiance County Juvenile Court system helps, with a a judge serving at the council meetings as a judicial advisor.

“For the purpose of improving the well-being of families and children, the council supports initiatives that increase the likelihood that children can grow up safe and healthy, surrounded by support of their families and communities,” Voll said.

While serving as council chair, Spieth’s regular job, as juvenile court probation officer and administrator, fits right in with the Defiance FCFC mission.

“I am able to work with teens who are incarcerated, while they are in prison, and helping them prepare for when they get out,” Spieth said. “I also work with parents through the whole process of while their child is incarcerated and helping them when their child is out and getting them the proper resources from there. I also help parents and children who are not incarcerated in getting them the proper resources they need. We’ve been able to help a lot of children and families.”

As the lone employee in the office, Voll, who serves as FCFC coordinator for Defiance and Williams counties, performs a variety of tasks.

“My work includes coordinating council meetings, preparing contracts, and overseeing council programs and initiatives,” she said. “I also monitor compliance with our service coordination process, serve as a resource for families seeking information about community services, collaborate with members and community partners to set council priorities, provide fiscal oversight and recruit family representatives to help advance our mission.”

As the coordinator for Williams and Defiance counties, Voll works mainly in the Defiance County office at 500 Court St. in Defiance. However, she appears in the Williams County office, located in Bryan, once or twice per week.

The Defiance County FCFC oversees three areas through service coordination, early intervention and through a resource guide.

Service coordination is a planning process that supports children and families through bringing together a team which assists in getting them the help they need.

The second area, early Intervention, is a statewide program for parents of infants and toddlers up to age three, who have developmental disabilities.

“To streamline administration, Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Williams counties have regionalized this service while continuing to provide services with teams located in each of the four counties, contracted through each county board of developmental disabilities (DD),” Voll said.

The third area is a resource guide, entitled “No Wrong Door and Family Services Resource Guide.” The guide provides parents easy access to local services and resources to any member agency. It aids in getting parents to the best suitable program to assist in the parent’s needs.

The FCFC is a part of county governments and is found in all 88 Ohio counties. It is also a part of state services, which helps provide operational funds.

“In Defiance County, operational funding comes from a combination of state general revenue funds and voluntary membership contributions,” Voll said. “Operational funding comes from a combination of state general revenue dollars and voluntary membership contributions.”

Service coordination comes from both state and federal funds. Early intervention is federally funded.

“Service coordination is supported by both state general revenue funds and federal funding, while early intervention service coordination is funded through federal IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) dollars,” Voll continued. “IDEA is s a federal law that ensures free and appropriate public education for eligible children with disabilities.”

Voll explained how changes at the federal and state levels can affect the FCFC agency.

“Like many organizations, our funding can shift, based on the priorities and decisions of state and federal government,” Voll said. “This may influence the resources available for our programs.”

However, the funding did not shift this year. As a result, Voll stated that the resources available for their programs did not change.