Tyler is a very active kid who enjoys many sports, including basketball,
soccer and gymnastics. 
When playing outside,Tyler loves to jump on the trampoline and go swimming. When playing inside, he likes to be creative and make roads out of tracks and blocks. He also enjoys playing games on his tablet, watching silly YouTube videos and playing with his favorite toy, a vacuum that spins with lights and sounds.
Tyler is autistic and on an IEP, but he likes school and gets great reports from his teachers. He loves to learn and also enjoys reading. His favorite book series is
Pete The Cat.
His favorite color is green and his favorite animal is either a cat or a horse.
Tyler can make fun out of anything and is a silly and loving kid. He would love a home where he has other kids to play with, pets and outdoor space to play.
Ask him what he wants to be when he grows up and he says: "Happy."
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Helping families
when they need us
It isn't the kind of news that grabs big headlines. Still, it is meaningful to the Hamilton County families we serve.
Our agency, at the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service's Midwest Partners for Program Improvement Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, received an award for timely processing of food assistance applications in 2017. In fact, we had the highest timeliness rate in a six-state region of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
Processing 98.67 percent of food applications in a timely manner isn't the kind of news that gets a mention on the 6 o'clock newscast. But it means a great deal to a hungry family when they receive the help they need as quickly as possible.
When people come to us, they have usually exhausted all other options. They are unable to feed their families, having tapped out their bank accounts, their friends and family members and even their number of visits at local food banks. We are a last resort and they need help right away.
I am proud of the work our Family and Adult Assistance staff do. This isn't their first award for timely processing. We have a clear recent history where we have performed exceptionally well in this area. Our rates in 2016 and 2015 were just a shade lower, at 95 percent. And, comparatively, we performed better in 2017 than Ohio's other major metropolitan counties - Cuyahoga (83 percent) and Franklin (95 percent) - as well as the state's overall rate of 92 percent.
Ensuring your family is fed and not hungry is something we all understand. Our role is to provide temporary assistance until families get to a better place.
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We're so proud of our Fullerton Hornet
You might have seen our recent Facebook post about Evontay Oats, one of our 2017 high school grads, who was heading out to California to enroll in Fullerton College.
Well, he's all set out there and practicing with the football team. Evontay got himself noticed by the school after posting videos on social media of himself playing high school ball. 
He and his CHOICES worker, Patrick Beiting, headed to California on Aug. 6 and spent a few days getting Evontay ready for school. He has experienced several firsts out on the West Coast already - he ate fish for the first time and loved it, and he got to see the ocean.
Good luck, Evontay - we know you can do it!
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Children's Services levy on ballot
Hamilton County's Board of County Commissioners voted to place a 1.98-mill levy to support Children's Services on the November ballot. This additional levy will run for three years and is intended to support the 2016 levy.
An outside consultant and the Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee conducted a review earlier this year and determined our agency needed additional funding to serve the increasing needs of Hamilton County's families and children.
We appreciate the work of the outside consultant, the Tax Levy Review Committee and the Board of County Commissioners in assessing the needs of those we serve. More importantly, we appreciate the work of our staff in helping our families. Those who evaluated our program noted that we have not only experienced increasing numbers, but that those children and families have experienced higher levels of trauma.
The levy decision is now in the hands of November's voters. We will adjust to their decision, but, regardless of outcome, our goal will remain the same: supporting and strengthening our community's families.
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Help us promote
#SiblingSaturday
You might not have noticed, but we've added a lot of sibling sets to HCKids in the last couple of weeks. And big sibling sets - groups of four and even five that we want to keep together.
To bring some extra attention to these sibs, we're doing #SiblingSaturday. Each weekend, we'll bring you a story of some siblings who need a forever family.
How cute is Ja'Riah in these pigtails?
You'll be seeing these kids on our websites and our social media feeds. Please share!
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