Marsh celebrates year in downtown center

VW independent/submitted information

One year ago, The Marsh Foundation opened its Foster Care and Adoption Center on Main Street in downtown Van Wert. With the goal of being more accessible to the community, the new facility has been successful in helping The Marsh to achieve its main goal: helping more children and families.

Becoming more visible and accessible has helped The Marsh recruit additional foster families. 

“We have added eight more homes in Van Wert County alone,” said Melissa Snyder, foster care supervisor.

That translates to helping 10 more kids each day than the foster care division was helping last year at this time.

Kim Mullins, executive director of Child and Family Services, agrees that the new location has been largely impactful on the foster care program at The Marsh. 

“This move downtown has given us new possibilities in serving foster children,” she said. “There is no greater gift to give a child than a family.”

Since opening one year ago, The Marsh has been able to give a home, and a family, to 90 children.

“It is a great feeling to see our number of dedicated foster and adoptive families growing,” said Snyder. “We are thrilled about our expansion over the past year and look forward to even more future growth.”

The Foster Care and Adoption Center currently employs five full-time employees and contains office space used for training, meetings, family visits, and more.