The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
What the Cupcakes supports kinship visits
An Avon bakery is going the extra mile to give families a safe place to go for reunions.
An Avon bakery is going the extra mile to give families a safe place to go for reunions.
What the Cupcakes will debut its new program, Chance for Safe Visits Foster & Kinship, to provide visits for family members who have been separated.
Located at 36795 Detroit Road, the program will address a need locally giving families a safe place to hold their visitation hours.
What the Cupcakes owner Renee Collins got the idea after gaining custody of a young family member and learning to navigate the system first-hand.
“The hope is that we will be able to give kinship family members and foster families and peace of mind because it can be a lot of anxiety and a lot of worries not being able to maintain a safe environment to place those visits,” Collins said. Kinship care refers to the care of children by relatives after being removed from the home.
Lorain County lacks programs available providing a safe to go for visitation with the children’s biological family, making it difficult for some families to navigate.
According to statistics from Lorain County Children’s Services, in 2018, the agency received more than 4,600 referrals with more than 1,600 screened in for additional investigation.
“Some people don’t want to do them at their homes,” Collins said. “So, some people don’t want to do that at the biological parent’s homes.
“So with that being said, Children’s Services is an amazing organization. However, you know, they can only offer so much to so many families, due to the abundance of people that are needing these kind of services.”
Outside visitation can come with tension and a neutral location for both parties can help lessen the anxiety and stress for everyone, Collins said.
The program supports the needs of parents involved in the midst of a difficult situation with many trying to do what’s right, she said.
“We feel that, you know, parents in the situation should be able to get the help they need, and still be able to maintain the relationship with our children,” Collins said. “But we also feel like we should have a little more protection and rights in the process of it.”
What the Cupcakes plans to offer the program two times a month beginning in April and hopes the proposal brings out additional support from the community in the interests of prioritizing the needs of children, she said.