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Effective March 20, 2020 the Geauga County Department of Job and Family Services (GCJFS) transitioned to an alternative temporary service model whereby all public interfacing was suspended, and our building is now closed to public access. Our office will maintain normal operating hours with flexible staff levels, and we will be conducting business via regular mail, email, phone, and fax. Geauga County residents may also visit our website to receive critical information regarding our benefits and/or services at www.geaugajfs.org

GCJFS can be contacted using any of the following methods:

Child and Adult Protective Services

Child and adult protective services staff will remain accessible during regular business hours, Monday – Friday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. You may reach out to your caseworker directly via phone or email. To report child or elder abuse or neglect during working hours please call (440) 285-9141. We will continue to provide emergent on-call coverage outside of normal business hours at (440) 285-5665. We are evaluating our ability to safely provide supervised parenting time and other interfacing services to assure the safety of staff and our clients. Please contact your caseworker if you have any case-specific questions and/or concerns.

OhioMeansJobs – Geauga County

The Career Resource Center is closed to the public; however, career services are still available:

• For assistance with resume development, job searching, interviewing skills, or your LinkedIn profile, please call (440) 285-1116; or email Lisa.Sprowls@jfs.ohio.gov 
• Applying for Unemployment Compensation benefits must be done online at www.unemployment.ohio.gov or call (877) 644-6562.
• For the Business Community in Geauga county in need of resource information, please email Mandy.Monroe@jfs.ohio.gov
• For more details, please visit www.geaugajfs.org and www.OhioMeansJobs.com

Child Support

Correspondence for Geauga County child support cases should be submitted by mail or via the Ohio Child Support Customer Service Web Portal by visiting http://jfs.ohio.gov/Ocs/CustServWebPortalWelcome2.stm While in-person child support payments at GCJFS are suspended, there are several other options available for parents to make timely payments:

• ONLINE: from a checking or savings account or by debit or credit card, free of charge, by visiting https://oh.smartchildsupport.com
• BY PHONE: with a debit or credit card by calling (888) 965-2676 Option 5
• BY MAIL: Ohio Child Support Payment Central, P.O. Box 182372, Columbus, Ohio 43218-2372. Be sure to include your name, case number and order number.

Public Assistance

Public Assistance Program clients should visit https://benefits.ohio.gov/ to:

• Apply for benefits (Food, Cash, Medicaid, Child Care)
• Renew your benefits (Food, Cash, Medicaid)
• Upload documents to your case (Food, Cash, Medicaid)
• Documents can alternatively be sent as email attachments to info@geaugajfs.org or faxed to
• (440) 286-6654 (all documents including childcare)
• Check the status of your benefits (Food, Cash, Medicaid)

Important public assistance phone numbers:

• SNAP EBT Customer Service: (866) 386-3071
• EPPIcard (Cash Assistance) Customer Service: (866) 320-8822
• Medicaid Consumer Hotline: (800) 324-8680

Food and other emergency assistance during COVID crisis

Individuals needing assistance with food or other emergency needs can contactSara Shininger, Community Support Coordinator at sara.shininger@jfs.ohio.govor (440) 285-9141, ext. 1263.