LEBANON — Warren County leaders' recent snub of $20,000 to encourage active parenting by fathers is not the first time they have turned down state money for social programs.

        This spring, county commissioners rejected $41,000 for another Taft administration initiative, Kinship Navigator. The program would have sought out and provided information to people who have taken charge of a relative's children.

        “As a grandmother, it sounds like it may have been a great thing to do,” said Hazel Dotson, 62, a Deerfield Township official who is raising three of her late son's children.

        Even for someone as gov ernment-savvy as she is, Ms. Dotson said, it's not easy for a kinship caregiver to navigate the legal and other government systems: “Communication is not there.”

        The commissioners, however, are opposed to taking state money for “liberal” programs they say duplicate existing services.

        “Just because the state puts out money for a silly program called Fatherhood (Appreciation) or Help Me Grow or whatever the name of the program is that is politically correct in Columbus or Washington, D.C., does not mean that we have to scramble to get that money and operate a program that does not make sense in Warren County,” Commis sioner Pat South said in a June meeting.

        Hamilton, Butler and Clermont counties do not share Warren commissioners' reservations: All are using the Fatherhood and Kinship grants, which do not require local contributions.

        “(Kinship Navigator) is a neat program that will help a lot of families,” said Jim Taylor, coordinator of Clermont's Family and Children First Council. “A lot of times if you're in that situation you want someone to talk to.”

        Money not spent in Warren County will not go back to taxpayers but rather will mean larger shares for other counties, said Barbara Turpin, an official with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

        The Kinship and Fatherhood programs are to be administered largely through local Family and Children First councils — another state brainchild Warren Commission President Mike Kilburn isn't happy about.

        “It's welfare, damn it, call it that,” Mr. Kilburn said during the June discussion. “They're putting a monkey suit on a basketball player and calling it a basketball player. It's a damn monkey suit.”

        He blames his fellow Republicans in Columbus.

        “We have let the liberal agenda come into a conservative state, starting with (former Gov.) George Voinovich and now being followed by (Gov.) Bob Taft, and it sickens me,” he said.

        Fatherhood Appreciation, Kin ship Navigator and the councils are all part of Gov. Bob Taft's Every Child Succeeds initiative, which seeks to give kids the best possible start in life:

        • Kinship Navigator aims to encourage kinship care by helping the caretakers with the legal system, child care and finances.

        Children in foster care miss out on the sense of family grandparents and relatives can give, said Jean Houston of Mount Carmel. Ms. Houston, who adopted two grandchildren, is half of the team that's running Kinship Navigator in Clermont County.

        “It would be devastating, I think, to be a person out there without a family, and a child at that,” Ms. Houston said.

        Foster homes also are costlier for taxpayers, who pay for foster care but not kinship care.

        • Fatherhood Appreciation, a one-time grant, aims to recognize dads' important role. Children who lack a strong father figure are two times more likely to drop out of school and three times more likely to commit suicide, said Anthony Panzino, director of the state Fatherhood Commission.

        But Mr. Kilburn, a funeral home operator, said government shouldn't interfere.

        “Do you want some beer-drinking, bricklaying daddy that don't (care) to go through the motions?” he said. “... You're not going to get him and you're going to put that kid in a dangerous situation, probably.”

Downtown gateways say welcome
41 shootings in 10 weeks
Balance sought in patients rights bill
Internet scrapbook will tell Ohio's history with pictures
Teachers catch up in tech training
Faculty, UC set to negotiate
Warren County rejects parenting funds
1 killed, 4 hurt in crash on I-275
July 4th closings
N.Ky. starts safe baby program
Officer accused of striking stepson
City awaits builder's next move
County holds shaken-baby forum
Shuttlesworth demands union for Bigg's employees
Ukraine gets tip on grain
You Asked For It
Boone official settles into job
Car accident sends children to hospital
Christian school is multiplying
Congrats
Ky. Education Notes
Local Digest
Ohio Supreme Court will ax programs to relieve budget
Train hits car, leaving 5 dead
4-year-old saves brother
Fewer pass Ind. graduation exam
Uneven growth could harm corn harvest