For Release: April 12, 2016 – Corey Robertson, Office of Communications – 405-271-5601
The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), Office of Family Support and Prevention Service (FSPS) officially recognized five outstanding child abuse prevention leaders at the State Capitol on Tuesday, April 12. OSDH along with members from the Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Action Committee selected and honored these individuals and organizations for their efforts that demonstrated significant and outstanding commitment and dedication to child abuse prevention activities.
The 2016 award winners are:
Ms. Lisa Jansen-Rees for the Mary Ellen Wilson Award
Infant Crisis Services, Inc. for the Outstanding Child Abuse Prevention Program
Ms. Kellie Payne for the Julie L. Bonner Nurse Award
Ms. Jan Justice for the Marion Jacewitz Award
Oklahoma Department of Libraries for the 2016 OSDH-FSPS Community Partner Award
Latino Community Development Agency (LCDA) for the National Losos Prize.
“These award recipients are shining examples of people working in Oklahoma to prevent child abuse and neglect by strengthening families. These individuals have made a positive impact on the quality of life for Oklahoma's children and families. Much is owed to them,” said Annette Jacobi, director of the Family Support and Prevention Service, OSDH.
The 2016 Mary Ellen Wilson Award recipient is Lisa Jansen-Rees. Ms. Jansen-Rees is a Family Advocacy Program manager at Fort Sill, a United States Army installation that supports more than 24,000 Soldiers, Marines and family members. She has built a successful and comprehensive program of prevention, education and treatment that is characterized by innovation, creativity and partnership. This program has improved the quality of life for thousands of families while significantly reducing the incidence of both child abuse and intimate partner violence over the last 11 years in the Lawton-Fort Sill community.
The 2016 Outstanding Child Abuse Prevention Program recipient is Infant Crisis Services, Inc. (ICS). This organization was founded in 1984 as part of a Sunday school project at Westminster Presbyterian Church. The program has since grown into a vital resource that many counties in Oklahoma rely on for their needs. During the last fiscal year, ICS had 18,336 visits from families and distributed 739,944 diapers, 320,928 bottles of formula, and 12,003 packs of infant and toddler food. The ICS mission is to provide life-sustaining formula, food and diapers to babies and toddlers in times of crisis. In addition, families are provided other items when they are available and are connected to important community resources in areas such as domestic violence, child abuse, child development, education, employee assistance, housing, utility assistance, health, mental health counseling, and parenting.
The 2016 Julie L. Bonner Award recipient is Kellie Payne. Ms. Payne is currently a Parents as Teachers Pilot registered nurse; she previously worked as a Children First nurse. Ms. Payne works to ensure her visits are client driven, to enrolling clients as early as possible and encourage involvement from both parents. Ms. Payne is an active member of the Community Coalition for Child Abuse and the Health Board for Head Start.
The 2016 Marion Jacewitz Award recipient is Jan Justice. Ms. Justice has been a prevention leader for over three decades, serving the families and children of Ponca City. For the last 15 years, she and her staff have worked diligently to increase fatherhood involvement and opportunities in the Ponca City community. Her fatherhood projects and collaborations have garnered national attention and led her to speaking at two national conferences on the project’s success.
The 2016 OSDH-FSPS Community Partner Awardrecipient is the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. For over ten years they have collaborated to ensure that libraries were stocked with child abuse prevention materials and parenting tools. They have taken an active role in multiple CAP campaigns and working to raise awareness against child abuse.
The 2016 Parents as Teachers Losos Prize recipient is TheLatino Community Development Agency (LCDA). They were chosen for this special recognition for their ability to demonstrate excellence through strategic goals, key program services, positive impacts on the families and the community that they serve, and outstanding practices that reflect the cultures and ethnicities that they serve. This award was presented prior to the awards ceremony at the State Capitol.
The Director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Ed Lake served as Master of Ceremonies, with renowned pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp presenting an opening presentation.
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Last Modified on
Jun 03, 2022
