VAN WERT, Ohio (6-14-24) – The Marsh Foundation has benefited from the expertise, compassion and inspiration of Kim Mullins for the past 29 years. On June 30, she will officially retire from her position as the Marsh Foundation’s Executive Director of Child & Family Services.
Mullins has led the Child & Family Services division at The Marsh Foundation since 2003. Prior to that, she served as a trainer/consultant for the group home and foster care divisions. She was also a certified instructor of the Crisis Prevention Institute for The Marsh for many years. Her tenure has also included family counseling and specialized assessment and counseling for sexually acting out youth.
Mullins’ career in counseling began after a stint in education. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and after college was a K-12 music teacher at a private school in Louisville, Kentucky.
Mullins said-
“This is where I learned how not to respond to inappropriate behavior,” she said. She and her husband then moved into a group home as family teachers and their lives were changed drastically.
This experience was invaluable and drove both of us to get further involved in the helping profession.”
Mullins said. After more than three years in that group home in North Carolina, the couple moved to Mississippi for several years to work at The United Methodist Children’s Home before coming to The Marsh Foundation in 1995.
In addition to her music education degree, Mullins also holds a master’s degree in education and allied professions, is a licensed professional clinical counselor and has been certified by The Teaching Family Association (TFA) as a family teacher. She credits TFA with teaching her an immense amount about working with difficult children.
“I can’t begin to describe how much I’ve learned from this association. I knew very little about working with youth, but they spent an incredible amount of time teaching and consulting when we moved into that group home.”
Some of the key concepts she learned were; catch them being good, a consequence is only as good as the motivation, teach kids that it’s okay to make mistakes, it’s how we handle mistakes that counts, be empathetic, help youths feel safe and help them learn how to make decisions.
Her years at The Marsh have been filled with wonderful memories and meaningful accomplishments. Throughout her tenure, the organization achieved multiple certifications from the Department of Job and Family Services, Department of Youth Services, Ohio Dept of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and accreditations from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities as well as the TFA. In 2023, Mullins received The Steve Plottner Award for Leadership in Child Welfare from the Ohio Children’s Alliance.
She notes that any accomplishments she could claim would include the members of the talented and dedicated team she works with. She credits this team as an inspiration.
“While I am proud of these accomplishments, they are not about me, they are about leaders and workers who partnered together to take bold leaps to achieve courageous goals for children and families.”.
Mullins noted that The Marsh, guided by their mission, is now serving more children, youth and families than they ever have before.
“The true accomplishments happen when a child is reunited with a family, graduates from high school and/or lives successfully in a community.”
Mullins said that she will miss her Marsh family when she departs.
“I am so grateful that the Lord gave me so many opportunities to serve in the helping profession. Praying for the organization has been a practice of mine as well as many others here at Marsh. We see so many disheartening and impossible situations. In those times I remember the words of Christ, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
She is keeping her options open after retirement and hopes that God leads her to another opportunity to serve, perhaps in a different way.
“I am so very grateful for The Marsh Trustees and the leadership here at The Marsh for the encouragement and support I have enjoyed all these years,” she concluded.
A reception honoring Mullins and her years of service will be held in The Marsh cafeteria on Wednesday, June 26 from 1 – 3 p.m. All are welcome.
The Marsh Foundation is a not-for-profit children’s services agency that provides services for youth and families in a variety of settings. Services include residential care, family foster care (ages 0-17), adoption and independent living services. Located in Van Wert, Ohio, the organization is licensed to provide on-campus services for up to 30 children, offers an on-campus school for grades 2 – 12, and provides a variety of clinical services to campus residents, foster care children and community members throughout western Ohio.
Mercer County Outlook 