About Us Diocesan Catholic Children's Home is a treatment center for children, ages 6 to 14, who have severe to moderate emotional and/or behavioral problems. The origins of the Home date back to over 160 years when a group of Kenton Countians met to form the St. John's Orphan Society. (See History) DCCH has evolved over the years to meet the changing needs of the community. DCCH's 83-acre campus is located in Northern Kentucky, in the city of Fort Mitchell, just off of I-75 (Directions). OUR MISSION: The mission of Diocesan Catholic Children's Home is to express God’s love by providing compassionate care and quality services to address the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of children and families. OUR VISION: Diocesan Catholic Children's Home will be the preferred provider of flexible, adaptive and the highest quality family-centered care in a safe environment. We will increase awareness in the community and expand funding sources to ensure the long-term financial viability of a state-of-the-art facility. OUR GOALS: To access, stabilize, treat, and educate children and their families while facilitating changes in relationships, attitudes and behavior. Through a continuum of support and assistance, we strive to establish them into a family setting, as well as develop them into productive, self-confident members of the community. OUR PHILOSOPHY: As a Christian institution under the auspices of the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky, Diocesan Catholic Children's Home respects the dignity of each individual as a person created in the image and likeness of God. The Board of Directors and Staff are committed to helping children and their families while, at the same time embracing and celebrating the diversity and giftedness of each and every person. In this way, we strive to develop their whole person-physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual-to the fullest possible extent, providing them the opportunity to lead fruitful and productive lives as children of God and members of society. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: We are very proud of our accomplishments and achievements. To learn more about the indicators by which we evaluate our services, please see Performance Indicators. OUR ACCREDITATION: The Home was the first residential treatment facility to become accredited by Council on Accreditation (COA) in Northern Kentucky in 1990. The Cabinet for Children, State of Kentucky now mandates that all private, child-caring agencies be nationally accredited by October, 2004. This is the fifth, successful time that the Home has sought and received accreditation and is effective through September, 2010. The process involved a comprehensive review of human resources, financial and risk management, and continuous quality improvement as well as 39 service standards. These standards address a full array of child, family and behavioral healthcare issues including residential treatment, therapeutic foster care, and adoption. Link to COA’s website by clicking the logo below: BREAKDOWN OF EXPENSES BY PROGRAM: Administration .............................................$ 504,866 Development................................................$ 328,067 Total Program Services...............................$ 3,079,698 Residential Treatment..................................$ 2,575,984 School..........................................................$ 395,493 TFC..............................................................$ 112,632 * The information presented here is taken from The Home’s year-end profit/loss statement. A final audited profit/loss statement will be issued in October 2009. Our IRS 990 form will be available in February 2010. Both will be available for public review at those times. Net Assets as reported in 2008: $5,802,449 The Team for Child Care in the 21st Century The Staff Sister Jean Marie Hoffman is a thirty year veteran serving the needs of children with moderate to severe emotional problems. She graduated from Notre Dame Academy, completed her undergraduate degree at Thomas More College and her Masters in Education at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to her being Executive Director at Diocesan Catholic Children’s Home, she was a child care worker and therapist at DCCH. Contact Sister Jean Marie by emailing, jhoffman at DCCHome dot org John Ross is the Director of Children's Services for DCCH and has over 25 years in the child care services field. John received his Masters in Social Work degree from the University of Kentucky. John and his wife, Fran live in Florence with a son, Luke and daughter, Emily. Contact John by emailing, jross at DCCHome dot org Cheryl Ross returned to DCCH as the Treatment Director for the Residential unit in May 2006. She was previously employed for 13 years as a therapist and then Treatment Director at DCCH. She left in 2002 to work at First Church of Christ in Burlington KY as the Associate Director of Worship. Cheryl is married to Brad Ross. They live in Pendleton County, raising beef cattle. Brad and his brother manage a family owned business servicing and selling John Deere equipment. Contact Cheryl by emailing, cross at DCCHome dot org Sommer Alpiger grew up in Dayton, KY, where she attended Summit County Day High School in Cincinnati. She then went to Center College in Danville, KY to complete her triple major in Philosophy, Sociology and Anthropology. She moved to Boston, MA to earn her M.Ed. at Leslie University in Cambridge. While earning her Masters, she was teaching and soon was promoted to Education Director of the Gifford School in Boston.  She decided to move back to the Commonwealth to be closer to her family. Contact Sommer at sommer dot alpiger at beechwood dot kyschools dot us Tim Lucas is the Director of Finance and Operations for DCCH. He has over 30 years of business experience, with an extensive background in both operations and human resource management. He completed his undergraduate work at Northern Kentucky University with a degree in Business Management, and also received his MBA from N.K.U. Tim and his wife, Linda live in Campbell County with their four children.You can contact Tim by emailing, tlucas at DCCHome dot org Ron Bertsch is the Director of the Therapeutic Foster and Adoption Care Program "WINGS". He has over 23 years experience in foster care and adoption services. He received his Bachelors in Social work and Sociology at Thomas More College and his Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Kentucky. Ron and his wife, Julie live in Kenton County with their five children, of whom four came to them through adoption. Contact Ron by emailing, ronb at DCCHome dot org Steven Breidenich is the Development Director. He has over 30 years experience in non-profit and development work. He received his Bachelors of Science degree in Youth Agency Administration at the University of Indianapolis. Steven lives with his wife, Nancy and two children in Independence. Contact Steven by emailing, stevenb at DCCHome dot org 2009-2010 Board of Directors Caroline Weltzer, President, Viox & Viox, Inc. Kelly Schoening, Vice President, Dressman, Benzinger & LaVelle Kit Morrison, Treasurer, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Paul Miller, Secretary, Our Daily Bread Terry Carl, Kenton County Fiscal Court Jim Cutter, Cutter Construction Jerry Deatherage, Diversified Asset Management Pat Dressman, Campbell County Fiscal Court Tony Huser, B.L. Spille Construction Sister Mary Reinette Kroger, S.N.D., Sisters of Notre Dame Julie Ludwig, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Kathy Papp, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing of N. America Randy Rawe, Roeding Group Companies Darlene Sand Wall, Darlene Sand Wall, D.M.D. Sal Santoro, Commonwealth of Kentucky, House of Representatives Rick Schwab, Blessed Sacrament Parish Fr. Jeff VonLehman, St. Patrick’s Parish Alecia Webb-Edgington, Commonwealth of Kentucky, House of Representatives Beth Welter, Fifth Third Bank Robert Wilson, Sanofi Aventis Pharmaceuticals Gerry Zembrodt, Retired Joe Zerhusen, The Cincinnati Reds Catherine Zimmer, Zimmer Motors