Every county in Indiana has a Step Ahead Council. Through these Councils, significant progress has been made in redesigning state government to provide better services for children and families as they work to achieve self-sufficiency. The main goal of the federally-funded SSF program is to maintain the welfare and safety of all family members by providing services that strengthen and preserve families. SSF funds prevention and support services, crisis intervention, time-limited family reunification, and adoption promotion and support services. First Steps is a local, family-centered system for providing early intervention services to infants and toddlers.
Services are free and are coordinated, and families choose their providers.
The LPCC is a planning body for local intervention services and also carries out public awareness activities. It implements quarterly screenings, such as the fall Treats for Tots event. Click here to learn more about Monroe County First Steps. This is state funding that is administered by all of the local Step Ahead Councils to fill gaps in services for children and their families. The local Council has traditionally used this fund to pay for emergency services as well as to fund the Council's annual projects.