OUR COMMUNITY

16 | JULY 8 • 2021

T

his year, human
services organization
Oakland Family
Services is celebrating 100
years in operation.
The private not-for-profit
agency, which works with
vulnerable and disadvantaged
children, adults and families
in Southeastern Michigan,
including those in the Jewish
community, provides crucial
mental health services to the
area.
Oakland Family Services
began in 1921 as the
Michigan Children’s Aid
Society Oakland Branch,
which launched as a small
storefront in Royal Oak to
help kids in the foster care
system. It offered clothes
to kids in need — almost
like a “clothing closet,”
says president and CEO of
Oakland Family Services
Jaimie Clayton — and
continued to grow over the
decades.
Despite multiple name
changes, Clayton says the
organization’s mission has
remained the same. “We
never strayed far from
keeping the family at the
core of what we’ve done for a
century,” she explains.
“We expanded from
the concept of foster care
to family trauma, then
expanded that into mental
health and early childhood

and prevention services.”
Through prevention,
education and treatment,
Oakland Family Services
tackles a variety of issues
that impact the Southeastern
Michigan community. It
provides mental health
services, ensures children
have safe homes free from
neglect and abuse, helps
at-risk children gain access
to learning, and assists
people whose lives have
been impacted by trauma or
substance abuse.
“We are a full-service
nonprofit,” Clayton, 52,
explains. She has been with
Oakland Family Services for
nearly 20 years. “We provide
services from pre-birth all
the way to older adulthood.”
As an organization
founded by women who were
passionate about giving back
to the community, Oakland
Family Services continues to
prioritize women in need.
“Women’s programming is
a priority in the state to be
sure that women who have
substance-use issues get
treatment and can be with
their children,” Clayton says.

COVID ANXIETY
Though she says the
organization prides itself
on achieving various
milestones over the
decades, like its continuous

expansion into new services,
Clayton believes Oakland
Family Services’ biggest
accomplishment was staying
connected to the community
during the COVID-19
pandemic, when substance
use and abuse and mental
health issues skyrocketed.
“Our doors were closed,
but we were open,” she
says. “We did not skip a
beat during the pandemic.
We found a way to provide
virtual services and
continue to serve all of our
populations.”

A survey of 24,155
Michigan residents
conducted in April 2020, the
beginning of the pandemic,
found 79% cited concerns
about stress, loneliness,
anxiety and/or depression,
with 29% indicating
that they were “very” or
“extremely” concerned
about these mental health
symptoms.
For the state’s vulnerable
population, who already
struggled with finding
rides to appointments and
financial concerns before

Celebrating 100 years, Oakland
Family Services provides
mental health assistance.

Helping the
Vulnerable

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jaimie Clayton with some of the children the organization helps.

PHOTOS COURTESY OAKLAND FAMILY SERVICES