By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

The annual Livingston County Children’s Network Summit happened Tuesday evening at the Pontiac Elks Lodge, bringing some positive news.

The gathering of individuals from the fields of education, mental health, juvenile justice and medical care spoke about how they are working to continue the progress of the network and Dr. Kristal Shelvin, LCCN coordinator, admitted that while funding for the program has changed, they are still moving forward.

“One of the big changes this year is we no longer receive funding for implementation. Our funding now is solely for researching and making sure what we have started an initiated continues. So we have sustainability funding from the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation now, so what’s been surprising for me is how much we continue to move forward in spite of not having additional funding,” Shelvin said.

IHR Executive Director Joe Vaughan said that even though numbers are up for people being seen at IHR, that isn’t a negative indicator against the program.

“We’re seeing more people than ever before because we’re recognizing the need for it. And what we’re doing at IHR is providing solutions with whatever they’re coming in with. So we’re much more efficient with helping more people at a faster rate so they can go on and lead productive lives and put their issues behind them, so the reason we’re seeing a spike in more people is because we’re helping more people recover which allows us to see more new people,” Vaughan said.

The mission of the LCCN is that families all across Livingston County will utilize and value a comprehensive continuum of services to promote children’s social and emotional development, which will, in turn, effectively reduce at-risk behaviors and strengthen relationships.