Family And Children

Family and Children's Services is expanding its services at Whiskey Bottom Shopping Center in North Laurel with the goal of creating a "one-stop shop" of services for individuals and families in need of counseling or other assistance. The organization opened its North Laurel office two years ago. Among the nonprofit organizations to join Family and Children's Services in North Laurel will be Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, the Domestic Violence Center, FIRN (a Howard County nonprofit organization providing services to immigrants)

Susan Paula Kramon, a retired social worker, died of pneumonia Oct. 15 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. She was 65 and lived in Brooklandville. Born Susan Paula Samuelson in Washington, D.C., she was known as Paula. She was raised on Bateman Avenue and later in Pikesville. She was a 1962 Milford Mill High School graduate and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and a master's degree in social work from the University of Maryland. Mrs. Kramon worked for 14 years in various social work agencies, including Jewish Family and Children's Services, and was active in the National Association of Social Workers and the American Cancer Society.

The Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland has initiated a program to help Baltimore families care for their elderly.The United Way non-profit organization has extended its social services projects to include the Care-givers Support Program, an effort to provide family care-givers with in-home training in personal care tasks for the elderly such as bathing, grooming and nutrition."

Over a decade ago, Maryland was among a small number of states at the forefront of a bold new effort to make sure that vulnerable families and children had access to services where they live. Maryland's leadership in creating local management boards, or LMBs, helped other states understand that centralized services are less efficient and effective because one size does not fit all. Maryland realized that programs created by people in an office in Baltimore cannot match the needs of families in the hundreds of communities where services are delivered and designed.

Flozella Eleanor Riddle Clark, a civil rights activist who had a long career with the Family and Children's Society of Baltimore and later in real estate, died after suffering a heart attack Jan. 2 while visiting a daughter in Los Angeles. She was 75.She turned in her real estate license in 1994 after about 20 years, said the daughter, Veronica Hudson. But people continued to call, and the semiretired Mrs. Clark would help them with the paperwork and financing needed to buy the home.Mrs. Clark, who had lived since 1948 in the 2000 block of Wheeler Ave., had been married for 53 years to Harold Alexander Clark, a retired school principal.

James C. Holman, an attorney who represented corporate and banking clients and had been board chairman of a children's charity, died of congestive heart failure Monday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Timonium resident was 61. Born in Springfield, Mo., he earned a bachelor's degree in history from Drury University, a law degree at Vanderbilt University in 1971 and a master's degree in law from George Washington University. After law school, Mr. Holman served in the Army at Fort Holabird.

About 350 antiques lovers took a stroll down memory lane at the Hunt Valley Antiques Show Preview Party. They meandered along a twisting trail of vintage treasures displayed inside Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn. There was no chance of losing their way. The guests had plenty of guides -- about 60 antiques dealers from across the country and a battery of members of the Auxiliary of Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland, sponsors of the 30-year-old show....

The Domestic Violence Program of the Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland will establish a lending library at its Woodlawn office to provide educational and self-help resources for low-income victims of domestic violence. The library, which will be open next month, is to be funded by a $10,000 grant from the Maryland attorney general's office. The Domestic Violence Program of the Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland has been serving victims of domestic violence since 1984.

On November 21, 2008, Henry V. Rieger Sr Services and interment private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions are made to either Coastal Hospice of Salisbury, PO Box 1733, Salisbury, MD 21802 or Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland, 4623 Falls Rd., Balt., MD 21209. Arrangements by the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc.

The Healthy Families program at Howard County General Hospital has received a grant of $45,500 from the Howard County government as part of the Community Service Partnerships program. Healthy Families Howard County provides first-time parents with educational programs and emotional support from pregnancy through the first five years of parenthood. Participants in the program receive home visits and referrals from Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland, when appropriate. The program began in 2001 with a grant from the Howard County Children's Board, and also receives funding from the Freddie Mac and Columbia foundations.

A t the Hunt Valley Antiques Show preview party, event committee members Kara Davis and Crickett Woloson sat at a table with their husbands. The baby lamb chops and asparagus spears on their plates were the evening's only hint of spring. A week's worth of snowstorms left huge mounds of snow in the Crowne Plaza Hotel parking lot. Traffic snarls meant longer drive times for many of the evening's guests. But that didn't dampen their enthusiasm once they arrived at the party.

Anthony and Iris Thorpe adopted their first child nearly 16 years ago, a 6-week-old girl whose mother had been given a diagnosis of HIV-positive. With two other children of their own, the couple figured that the infant made their family circle complete. Since then, the circle has ballooned, with 48 foster children, five adoptions and one foster child whose adoption is in the works. The Thorpes, of Port Deposit, have opened their arms to infants and toddlers from Baltimore who make up some of city's most disheartening child statistics: the offspring of drug-afflicted, HIV-infected parents.

Salary: $40,000 Age: 27 Time on the job: Three months How she got started: Although Katie Cashman wanted to work with children after graduating from Towson University with a degree in psychology, she couldn't find the right job, so she went to work as a program manager at an adult day care. She quickly found her niche working with seniors and moved on to become the manager of an assisted-living facility in Frederick. She then worked as the resident services and admissions coordinator at Fairhaven, a continuing-care retirement facility in Sykesville.

Reasonable to limit gun rights of abusers We have no problem with hunters having access to guns, or people owning legal firearms, properly stored, for self-defense. However, all reasonable people surely must agree that there are circumstances that justify the termination of that right ("Added protection," editorial, Feb. 3). And a gun owner with a history of violence against his or her partner falls into this category, even if he or she is not a convicted criminal. Those of us who work with the victims of domestic violence know that the time between the issuing of a temporary and a final protective order is when a victim is at the highest risk of attack by her partner.

On November 21, 2008, Henry V. Rieger Sr Services and interment private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions are made to either Coastal Hospice of Salisbury, PO Box 1733, Salisbury, MD 21802 or Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland, 4623 Falls Rd., Balt., MD 21209. Arrangements by the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc.

James C. Holman, an attorney who represented corporate and banking clients and had been board chairman of a children's charity, died of congestive heart failure Monday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Timonium resident was 61. Born in Springfield, Mo., he earned a bachelor's degree in history from Drury University, a law degree at Vanderbilt University in 1971 and a master's degree in law from George Washington University. After law school, Mr. Holman served in the Army at Fort Holabird.

Family services panel welcomes four new members April Battle, director of Systems Development at Amerix Corp., has joined the Howard County Advisory Board of Family and Children's Services. Also among the nonprofit organization's new board members are Columbia resident Judy Brown, senior vice president of nursing at Howard County General Hospital; Mary Beth Taylor, senior vice president of Bradford Federal Savings Bank; and community volunteer Joe Willmott of Glenmont. Family and Children's Services provides mental health services, a Mentoring Resource Center and in-home services for the elderly.

What's more warm and fuzzy than a room full of grandparents? A room full of foster grandparents. Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland's Foster Grandparent Program held its annual Recognition Ceremony at the Forum, paying tribute to its volunteers, 60 years of age and older, who give personal attention to children in day-care centers, hospitals, schools and programs for the homeless.Singled out for honors were Cornelia Ridgley and three sisters, Rosa Lee Minor, Ruby Sergio and Eva Walker, who all have been volunteering in the program since it began 26 years ago.Also in the gathering of about 250: Brenda D. Harrell, director of the Foster Grandparent Program; Stan Levi, executive director of Family and Children's Services; Sallie Hedenstad, Elder Services director; foster grandparents Leslie Saunders, Marjorie Stokes, Ocie Burch, Shelvin Caulthorne and Pauline Taylor.

Nonprofit returns to Wilde Lake building Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland has returned to its facility in the Village of Wilde Lake after a four-month absence while its building was being renovated. In January, the staff of the nonprofit organization moved to the basement of the Rose Price House, the building next to Oakland Manor in Town Center. Renovations to the Wilde Lake building, which 40 years ago served as Howard County Library's first Columbia branch, included a new sprinkler system, new acoustical ceiling tiles, new carpeting, paint and windows.