Kerianna is a smart, funny, energetic girl who likes school and enjoys reading books.
She likes to play board games and card games.
She does well in school and keeps her room clean.
Kerianna would like a small family with pets.
She would do well in a small, active family as the youngest child or only child.
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Free camp for foster, adopted kids
1 Life Camp and Hopes Reflections are offering a camp where kids in foster care and kids who have been adopted can possibly go for free.
It's an overnight camp, Aug. 3-6, for kids going into the third through sixth grades.
Camp Chautauqua, in Miamisburg, has cut the camp cost to $180 and there are scholarships available from the Remember Eli Foundation.
To register, contact richard@lindenwaldbaptist.
org or 513-460-5293. Registration ends July 24. 
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If you know a teenager who's in foster care, was previously in care or has aged out, please let them know they're welcome to join Hamilton County's Youth Advisory Board.
The YAB works to help make foster care better for kids.
If you know someone who's interested, please contact Orville McDonald at the Higher Education Mentoring Initiative (HEMI) - Orville.McDonald@uc.edu.
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A message from the director about our Fatherhood Initiative
We serve a lot of fathers in the programs throughout our agency. We assist them in feeding their children, help them acquire medical care for their children, assist them in paying child support, and help them find and train for jobs to support their families.
It might be a surprise that we work with so many dads. Much of our work springs from welfare programs instituted over the past 80 years, and much of those were established because of children left behind by dead or absent fathers. But we have evolved tremendously in my 25 years here and fathers are a very important part of our work. 
It goes beyond the 75,000 child support cases we oversee and the $127 million we collected on behalf of children last year. Many of the 54,000 people we helped at our OhioMeansJobs Center last year were dads. We helped more than 20,000 abused and neglected children in our children's services program last year, and we are making greater attempts than ever to engage fathers. Tens of thousands of fathers participate in our food assistance (107,000 consumers a month) and Medicaid programs (218,000 consumers a month) so their children have what they need.
We need to engage and support fathers. That is the goal of our Fatherhood Initiative. Research and data consistently reveal improved outcomes when dads are engaged and involved in solutions for the families in our care. Fatherhood Coordinator Calvin Williams is leading a Design Team of employees and local fathers. The "design" process is a positive, solution-focused way to explore how the agency can improve.
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We helped reunite kids in Mexico with local mom
There's a 15-year-old boy from Mexico now living on Cincinnati's West Side who has fallen in love with Burger King and Starbucks. His sister, 13, is a huge fan of pizza.
The teens relocated here from Mexico last month with help from Hamilton County Job and Family Services, which tracked down their mother in Cincinnati, connected her with needed services and orchestrated the kids' flight home.
With all the attention on the separation of families along our country's border with Mexico, this story is about a family being united. With help from our caseworkers, supervisors and an interpreter, these American kids left a Mexican shelter, boarded a plane and are now quickly assimilating into life in the United States. 
The boy had lived in a shelter since October. He was taken there after the man the kids were living with, his sister's father, was accused of abusing him. His sister was later removed, too. She had been living in a shelter since the winter.
They are both American citizens. They lived here until about 10 years ago, when they traveled to Mexico with their mother and the girl's father, so he could be near his family. Their mother, an American citizen, later returned to the United States with her two younger children, leaving the older boy and girl with the girl's father.
When the kids landed in a shelter, Mexican authorities contacted the International Social Service, which contacted Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which contacted Hamilton County. The mother had wanted to reunite with her children for some time, but she was unsuccessful in getting her kids out of Mexico. This time, our agency helped make it happen.
Read more...
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Adorable boy gets parents, big brother
They hadn't planned on having more children. Their son, A.J., will be 18 soon. In fact, they were talking about getting a dog.
But when David Gregory, a Cincinnati police officer, heard from a family friend about a baby boy who needed a home, he didn't hesitate. He called his wife, Traci, and they quickly decided to take the baby in.
That baby boy, Logan, is now the cutest little 21-month-old towhead. And he officially became a Gregory this spring.
The courtroom of Hamilton County Probate Judge Ralph Winkler was full of family members, friends and caseworkers. The judge thanked the Gregorys for stepping up, for becoming parents again when they hadn't expected to do so. Logan's caseworker and guardian ad litem said they can't imagine him being anywhere else.
Logan walked around the courtroom like he owned it, took off his shoes and banged the judge's gavel.
Read lots of fun adoption stories at hckids.org.
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