Unalaska, AK – About 20 community members gathered at the Father Gromoff Senior Center on Wednesday to hear about the status of Office of Children's Services position based in Unalaska.

The position has been vacant since 2009, and there have been four attempts to fill it. However, weather and travel challenges have driven some candidates for the position off.

Tim Bolles, who is the Children's Services Manager for the South Central region, answered questions from the group about the likelihood of filling the position and solicited ideas from Unalaskans on how to keep an OCS field office here. He says that the Aleutians region position is the most expensive one for OCS to maintain and also includes the fewest cases. He says it's unclear that the position will continue to be based in Unalaska if there continues to be difficulty filling it.

"As far as the likelihood of filling it, it's fifty-fifty," says Bolles.

M. Lynn Crane is head of Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence (USAFV). She was at the meeting last night, and she says that having an OCS worker in Unalaska has been a vital resource for the community.

"Any time you don't have someone here who can do an investigation or even provide minimal intervention to a family that may be in crisis, I think you're running the risk of things getting worse," says Crane.

In addition to USAFV, Unalaska does have some domestic violence support through the Aleutians Pribiliof Islands Association. However, as APIA lead case worker Malinda Beiler explained at the meeting, they only work with Native families.