Congresswoman Erin Houchin visits Jeffersonville

Libby Cunningham, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·2 min read

Aug. 21—JEFFERSONVILLE — U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin visited Family and Children's Place in Jeffersonville recently to learn more about how the organization helps kids in Southern Indiana.

CEO Pam Darnall said the children's advocacy group has been in Southern Indiana for 40 years and in the region for 140 years.

"Our services really are to help families have safe, nurturing an loving homes and preventing child abuse and neglect," Darnall said. "We have services that help families after they've been impacted by child abuse and family violence."

Houchin, R-Indiana, who has a background in working in children's services, said it was important for her to see what's happening at Family and Children's Place and how she can help them both at home and in Washington D.C.

"These are people providing direct services to children and families," Houchin said. "Certainly I have a heart for that because of the work I've done. I just want to get up to speed on what they are doing here, and how I can be helpful."

In Southern Indiana the center is noticing a number of children who are in need of mental health services, Darnall said.

"One of the biggest issues is mental health," Darnall said. "So we are going to take a tour of our site in Jeffersonville, where we have mental health services and child advocacy services."

The Family and Children's Place works with groups across the region to help local kids and famliies.

"We are loving the partnership we have here in Southern Indiana," Darnall said. "We've been here for over 40 years really serving Floyd, Scott, Clark, Harrison and Washington counties. We just lover working with the families here."

Houchin said mental health is also an issue that she sees affecting youth across the state.

"Mental health is one of the biggest challenges we face," Houchin said. "Indiana went away from a mental health hospital model, I think we definitely need more resources available. We saw this during the opioid epidemic, when adults and teens and the like were suffering from opioid abuse. We still have that going on."

Houchin said it's important for her to help people within the foster care system as well.

"One (way) is the Find and Protect Foster Youth Act," she said. "We have a lot of missing foster kids around the country, so Congressman Tony Gonzalez of Texas and I are working to make sure these kids are safe and taken care of," she said, adding the hope is to help bolster education for youth in foster care as well.