LSF Receives Family Services

Awards from Florida Network

Pensacola, Ft. Myers Programs Recognized

29 November 2009

By Thomas L. Weitzel, LSF Communications

Lutheran Services Florida (LSF) received two awards at a ceremony held on Nov. 6 in Tampa by the Florida Network of Youth and Family Services for work related to the Children in Need of Services/Families in Need of Services program (CINS/FINS).

Sherry Kuss, Supervisor for LSF's Currie House Youth Shelter in Pensacola, was awarded as "Outstanding Youth Care Worker for 2009" for her work in the CINS/FINS program, particularly her efforts to organize and facilitate a Youth Advisory Board that allowed many of the youth who received services at Currie House to become involved in the local community.

LSF's Southwest Region received recognition and $5,000 for exceeding contract benchmarks.  LSF's CINS/FINS program in the southwest is located in Ft. Myers and works closely with LSF's Oasis Youth Shelter.  Receiving the award on behalf of the region was SW Region Director Patricia Leonard.

Both awards recognized that "LSF staff go out of their way to serve as many clients as they can," said Leonard, "even when it means that it will be more work for them."  She added that "it also means that we are good stewards of the tax payers' money."

The Children in Need of Services/Families in Need of Services program (CINS/FINS) is sponsored by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to assist children who have been found by the courts to be a runaway, habitually truant, or ungovernable are ordered into counseling programs with their families.  (To read a complete description of the CINS/FINS program at the website, click here.)  Lutheran Services Florida operates CINS/FINS programs in Pensacola, Crestview, Ft. Myers and Lauderdale Lakes.

Commenting on receiving the "Outstanding Youth Care Worker" award, Sherry Kuss said that she "feels very honored and blessed to be working at an agency that puts God, kids, and their needs above all.”

Kuss began her work at Lutheran Services Florida in 1999, leaving the state for a short period of time, but returning in 2007.  She has served as Currie House Shelter Supervisor since that 2007.

The awards ceremony held in Tampa is an annual event by the Florida Network of Youth and Family Services, and was attended this year by about 100 guests.  Those guests included Florida Network Executive Director Dee Richter and the Board of Directors, Florida State Senator Victor Crist (R), Florida DJJ Secretary Frank Peterman, Jr., and Florida DJJ Assistant Secretary Greg Johnson.

This is not the first time that LSF's CINS/FINS programs have received recognition.  In March, the non-residential portion of the Ft. Myers program received an "exceptional rating" from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.  Click here to read that story.

To read more about LSF's CINS/FINS Counseling program, click here.

Lutheran Services Florida is a statewide human services agency offering more than 60 social service programs with a staff of over 500 employees.  LSF has served approximately 35,000 people annually since its founding in 1982.  For more information about Lutherans Services Florida, see www.lsfnet.org.

For more information about this story, contact Thomas L. Weitzel at 813-676-5929.

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