
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 22, 1995                   TAG: 9508220066
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CATHOLIC AGENCIES IN ROANOKE, RICHMOND TO JOIN

Catholic Charities of Southwestern Virginia, a Roanoke-based organization that has provided family counseling, pregnancy counseling and adoption services for nearly 30 years, is merging with a similar organization in Richmond.

The Roanoke agency is in the early planning stages of a merger with Catholic Charities of Richmond, said Marge Savage, interim director of Catholic Charities of Southwestern Virginia. Both agencies work under the auspices of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.

"At this point, we really don't have the staff for expansion," she said. "We're a pretty small operation. It's been difficult for us to expand on our own. We felt this would be a good opportunity to look for ways to expand our services and look at other areas."

What shape the merged organization will take is uncertain, Savage said, but she expects both agencies to benefit by "piggybacking" one another's programs.

For example, the Richmond agency provides counseling services in clients' homes. The Roanoke agency does not, offering more traditional counseling services.

Savage said the Roanoke agency may be able to tap into grant funding to start that kind of service in Southwest Virginia after the agencies merge.

Catholic Charities in Richmond is home of the "Connections" program, a foster care service. It has operated the program in the Roanoke area for 13 years but as an independent entity, not as part of Catholic Charities of Southwestern Virginia.

The merger will bring all three under one umbrella, said Geri Tankersley, program manager of Connections in Roanoke.

"That's why the merger will be in everybody's best interest," she said. "At this point, we're still in the developmental stages, and I don't know where we'll end up. But it certainly has the potential to complement services already existing in those programs."

Connections operates two foster care programs - one for unaccompanied refugees who are minors and another for American children with special needs. The two programs serve about 100 children annually.

Connections also offers the Foster and Adoptive Care Training System, which provides training for foster and adoptive parents.

by CNB