PCSAO’s Child Advocate of the Year for 2023 was Aimee Clemson, an Ohio START caseworker at Ashtabula County Children Services.
Aimee Clemson is a single mother who has struggled with anxiety and depression and ultimately substance use disorder. She is a parent who found recovery through participation in Ohio START.
Like all of us, Aimee Clemson is a person of many strengths and talents and some struggles along the way.
She made it her life’s mission to help the children and families whose lives are directly affected by the addiction epidemic. She is on the frontlines, protecting the children, while holding their parent’s hand. As someone who experienced children services knocking on her door . . . as someone who took a risk and trusted the Ohio START worker and peer mentor whom she would come to call her “angels” . . . as someone who eventually became a START peer mentor and now an Ohio START caseworker, Aimee leads by way of example and hope, directing her clients toward a pathway of healing and recovery.
This year, Aimee took her mission to the Ohio Statehouse, testifying not once but twice before legislative committees on behalf of PCSAO, asking senators and representatives to fund children services, to fund Ohio START, and to fund hope for families like hers. She and her coworkers made the long trip from Ashtabula County to Columbus, determined to share her moving story of hope. As a state association director, I know that legislators want to hear, not so much from me, but from people who are impacted by the funding decisions they make. During Amy’s testimony, the representatives and senators were hanging on every word, impressed by her courage and inspired by the example of recovery, hope, and change. And it worked! Thanks to Aimee’s advocacy, critical funding was added and restored to the state budget. We would not have been as successful without Aimee being such a powerful witness advocating on PCSAO’s behalf.
As Aimee stated in her testimony, “We CAN recover and we DO recover.” Watch her legislative testimony here (marker 1:12:30) and here (marker 1:45:00).