News Release

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Department of Child Services has received national recognition for its Indiana Family Preservation Services program, which provides in-home support to strengthen families and improve outcomes while reducing the number of children entering the foster care system.

The program, which launched in June 2020, has been designated a promising practice by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare. The program also was highlighted as an example of how new approaches to child welfare practice can enhance child and family well-being in an April report by the Christensen Institute.

On Wednesday, May 23, David Reed, MSW, LCSW, CSAYC, deputy director for child welfare services at DCS, spoke about the program’s positive impact before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.

The Indiana Family Preservation Services program is designed to keep children in their home when it is safe to do so. It achieves this goal by helping families understand and implement best practices for parental resilience, child development and social connectedness.

The program also can provide other support, such as financial assistance, when not doing so would result in children having to enter foster care. Most importantly, all services are coordinated by a single provider, easing the administrative burden on families by working with a single point of contact.

“Entering foster care and being separated from family is traumatic for children,” Reed said. “When we can provide the support that allows children to remain safely at home, we see vastly improved outcomes and healthier relationships over the long term.”

Reed noted the program has resulted in children being safer, with fewer children experiencing repeated maltreatment than before its launch.

Additionally, since the federal Family First Prevention Services Act passed in 2018, DCS has:

• Reduced the number of children in traditional out-of-home foster care by 50 percent
• Reduced the number of children in residential facilities by more than 50 percent
• The Indiana Family Preservation Services program has played a critical role in those outcomes.

Since its inception, Indiana Family Preservation Services has served more than 27,000 children and 14,000 families.

IndyStar will be recognizing the top softball players in Indiana with our players of the week poll.

Scroll to the bottom of the article to vote. Voting is open until 3 p.m. TUESDAY.

We may be doing Players of the Week for regionals. Stay tuned for details!

Congratulations to Heritage Christian’s Naomi Swisher on being voted Player of the Week for May 13-18! The freshman doubled twice, scored two runs and drove in five more in a 15-2 win over Brebeuf.

Here are this week’s nominees.

Insider: Ranking Central Indiana’s 15 sectional champions entering regionals

Regionals: Statewide pairings, schedule, scores

Reagan Bauer, Mooresville

Bauer pitched a five-inning perfect game with nine strikeouts vs. Martinsville in the sectional quarterfinals, went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs against Bloomington North in the semis, then clocked a couple more hits and scored twice in the championship game vs. Center Grove. The junior batted a career-best .347 with 14 RBIs, 28 runs and 10 doubles. 

More: Pios made Center Grove ‘earn everything’ in sectional final

Morgan Burgess, Gibson Southern

The senior delivered at the plate and in the circle. She totaled four hits, five RBIs (two in the semis vs. Evansville Memorial and three in the final vs. Princeton) and two runs. Burgess also pitched six innings in the sectional semifinal vs. Evansville Memorial, striking out five and allowing only one earned run (two total) on four hits over six innings. 

Elise Coleman, Floyd Central

The sophomore homered twice, doubled once, drove in four runs and scored thrice in a 9-1 title-clinching win over Jeffersonville. Coleman also had an RBI single in a 7-4 semifinal win over Jennings County. 

Brylie Couch, Triton Central

The junior pitched a no-hitter in the semifinals vs. Heritage Christian, racking up 13 strikeouts and issuing only one walk. Couch also had a hit and an RBI, then went 2-for-3 with a double, a homer, two RBIs and three runs scored in the championship game vs. Scecina.

Leilani Forshey, Greenfield-Central

The junior hit her 13th homer of the season and drove in three runs in GC’s semifinal win over Mt. Vernon, then collected three hits and three RBIs in the final vs. New Palestine. Forshey finished the season batting .419 with 31 hits, 34 RBIs, 23 runs scored and 13 home runs.

Holly Garrett, Beech Grove

Garrett scored twice against Purdue Poly, then delivered in the bottom of the seventh vs. Speedway. With the score tied at 3, the senior ripped a one-out double to left, stole third and came in to score the winning run on a Kylee Robinson base hit. She also had two assists and a putout in the field.

Riley Janda, Center Grove

Janda was held hitless in the semifinals against Bloomington South, but she took off against Mooresville, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and a homer. She scored once and recorded four RBIs, giving her the school’s single-season record with 59. 

‘They’re going to go far.’ Healthy, confident & hungry Center Grove claims sectional title.

Caitlin LaFerney, Yorktown

The senior hurler led the Tigers back to regionals. She pitched a two-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts and only one walk in a 12-0 win over Centerville (6 innings), then allowed only two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and zero walks in a 4-2 win over Jay County in the final. LaFerney also had three hits and an RBI vs. Centerville.

Emma Luther, New Prairie

Luther delivered a two-run go-ahead home run in the top of the sixth in the sectional championship game vs. Jimtown. She finished the game 1-for-2 with two walks, two RBIs and a run scored. The senior had hits against South Bend Riley and South Bend Washington, with an RBI vs. Riley and a run scored vs. Washington.

Anna Moore, Cathedral

The Purdue commit finished a double shy of the cycle vs. Pike, going 3-for-4 with five RBIs, three runs and a couple steals, then matched her hit total vs. Lawrence North with four runs and a couple RBIs. She also cleared two milestones last week, reaching 50 hits and 50 runs for the season. 

Sydney Oliver, New Palestine

The senior logged a hit, an RBI and a run scored vs. Muncie Central, then picked up three hits, three RBIs and three runs vs. Pendleton Heights and two hits and two RBIs vs. Greenfield-Central. Oliver, who tripled twice, was also perfect on six chances in the outfield with five putouts, an assist and one highlight-reel double play vs. the Arabians.

‘Everyone was spectacular.’ New Palestine’s flawless fielding highlights semifinal rout

Ava Poulson, Huntington North

The senior twirled two one-hit shutouts to punch the Vikings’ ticket to regional. Poulson issued only one walk in both outings, and struck out 13 vs. Fort Wayne South Side (five innings) and eight vs. Columbia City. She also collected four hits (two triples), four runs and two RBIs at the plate.

Sydney Rainford, North Newton

The junior pitched all 10 innings of Saturday’s sectional championship game vs. Illiana Christian, allowing four unearned runs on five hits with a walk and 12 strikeouts. She also logged a hit, two walks and two steals in the 5-4 win. Rainford pitched a four-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts in the semifinals vs. Hammond Bishop Noll and a five-inning perfect game with 14 strikeouts vs. Whiting in the quarterfinals. 

Maddie Rose, Castle

Rose clocked a double and two runs in an 11-1 win over Evansville Reitz, then collected a couple more hits (one homer), three runs scored and four RBIs in a 13-0 rout of Evansville North in the championship game.

Logan Rumble, Penn

The sophomore helped ensure a stress-free three-game run through sectionals for the defending 4A champions, collecting seven hits, five runs and six RBIs. Her collection of hits included doubles in each game and a grand slam in the final vs. Elkhart.

Paige Stires, Lapel

The sophomore played a big role in the Bulldogs’ run to a second consecutive sectional title. She went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored in a 2-1 win over Frankton, then collected two more hits and another run scored vs. Alexandria-Monroe.

More: Free of pressure, expectations, Roncalli softball looking to make a name for itself

Hannah Sutton, Avon

The senior Murray State commit went 4-for-7 (.571 average) with a couple home runs and five RBIs as Avon won its fourth consecutive sectional title. Sutton accounted for two hits (one homer), three RBIs and a run scored in a 7-1 win over Plainfield in the semifinals.

Grace Swedarsky, Hamilton Southeastern

Swedarsky pitched a two-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts vs. Westfield, a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts and only one baserunner (hit-by-pitch) in the semifinal vs. Zionsville, then struck out 12 vs. Noblesville to lift Hamilton Southeastern to its first sectional title since 2017.

‘The umpires are wowed. I am, too.’ Grace Swedarsky tosses no-hitter in sectional semis

More: Grace Swedarsky keeps mowing ’em down, HSE wins first softball sectional title since 2017

Payton Wulf, South Bend St. Joseph

The freshman shined through the final two rounds of sectionals, collecting three hits and five RBIs. She was excellent vs. Mishawaka in the final, going 2-for-4 with a homer, a run scored and three RBIs. 

Izzy Zapp, Noblesville

Zapp made her postseason debut with a 5-for-5 performance that included three runs and six RBIs in the Class 4A Sectional 8 semifinals vs. Fishers. She logged another hit against HSE in the final. The freshman finished the year batting .386 with 22 hits, 13 RBIs and 14 runs scored.

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

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INDIANAPOLIS — No team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series. But four have come back to force a Game 7, with the last being the Boston Celtics, who did it a year ago in the Eastern Conference Finals.

In these Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics are the team with the 3-0 lead, and they know the job is not done.

“It’s a way different feeling, obviously,” Derrick White said on Sunday about being up 3-0. “But you just understand that anything can change after one game. So you can’t relax.”

Here are some things to keep an eye out for as the Celtics try to close out the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 on Monday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

1. How Haliburton’s absence changes the Pacers … defensively

Game 2 of this series was the one that wasn’t close. And it wasn’t close because the Celtics had their most efficient offensive performance (126 points on 94 possessions) of the playoffs.

It was as purposeful of an offensive performance as we’ve seen from the Celtics, who relentlessly attacked the weaknesses in the Indiana defense. Those weaknesses began with Tyrese Haliburton, who was consistently put into screening action involving Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown.

With Haliburton out in Game 3, the Pacers switched more screens, and the Celtics had to find other ways to gain advantages and create good shots. They certainly attacked other weaknesses, namely Doug McDermott and Ben Sheppard. Boston also made Myles Turner work a little more, with Al Horford setting 23 ball screens, the most he’s set in the playoffs and tied for the second most he’s set all season in 78 total games.

“Everything depends on the coverage and the matchup,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Sunday. “The way you attack and the type of spacing that you have and the reads you have are going to be different because the coverage is different.

“It’s more about that, finding the advantage and making sure we can exploit it as a team.”

Haliburton was listed as questionable on the initial injury report for Game 4. If he plays, it’s unlikely he’ll be at 100 percent, making him more of a target for the Celtics’ defense than he was in Game 2. If he doesn’t play, the Celtics also know what to do.

2. Do the Pacers have any more midrange magic?

Midrange shots (those that come between the paint and the 3-point line) accounted for just 11% of total field goal attempts this season. That’s half the midrange rate from just seven years ago (22% in 2016-17) and one third the rate from 16 years ago (33% in 2007-08).

But the midrange shot is not dead. It’s a key reason why the Pacers are still playing, and why two of the three games in this series have been close.

Over their 16 playoff games, the Pacers have taken 15% of their shots from midrange, the highest rate (by a healthy margin) among the four teams still playing and up from 10% (21st) in the regular season.

While the Pacers didn’t shoot a lot from midrange in the regular season, they were the first team in the last 27 years to make more than half (50.5%) of their shots from between the paint and the 3-point line. And they’ve been even better (52.4%) in the playoffs.

That includes a four-game stretch — Game 6 of the conference semis through Game 2 of this series — in which the Pacers shot an incredible 50-for-81 (61.7%), with those 81 attempts accounting for 23% of their total shots from the field.

The were still better than average (7-for-15) in Game 3, but that wasn’t enough. One possession before he had the ball stolen by Jrue Holiday, Andrew Nembhard missed a 13-foot pullup that would have given the Pacers back the lead with a little more than 30 seconds left.

If they’re going to take this series back to Boston for a Game 5, the Pacers may need a little more midrange magic on Monday.

3. Celtics’ small ball hasn’t worked

Game 4 will be the 10th straight game that Kristaps Porzingis has missed with the calf strain he suffered in Game 4 of the first round. That injury has pushed Al Horford into the starting lineup, and that lineup has been much better in the playoffs (plus-18.1 per 100 possessions in 195 minutes) than it was in the regular season (plus-2.7 in 311 minutes).

With Horford in the starting lineup, Luke Kornet was the backup center until he sprained his wrist in the first half of Game 2.

With Kornet out, the Celtics initially went to small lineups — with Tatum or Oshae Brissett at center — when Horford sat down. But those lineups haven’t been good:

Celtics in conference finals

OffRtg = Points scored per 100 possessions
DefRtg = Points allowed per 100 possessions
NetRtg = Point differential per 100 possessions
Doesn’t include a couple of minutes of Game 2 garbage time

So Xavier Tillman has been getting some minutes as the backup center, including more than six minutes alongside Horford in Game 3 (all of the two-big minutes in the table above).

In the second half on Saturday, the only time there were zero bigs on the floor was the last seven seconds of the third quarter). The bigs were missed in those seven seconds, because the quarter ended with McDermott getting a tip-in over Payton Pritchard to put the Pacers up nine.

Horford and Porzingis (when he returns) allow the Celtics to play big without sacrificing spacing on offense. Kornet (who’s listed as questionable for Game 4) and Tillman, not so much. But the latter’s minutes were critical in Game 3, and we may not see much more small ball going forward.

4. More numbers to know

Some other notes regarding the Celtics and Pacers:

• This series is a huge contrast in ball movement, with the Pacers having averaged 400 passes per 24 minutes of possession and the Celtics having averaged just 276 per 24.

• Celtics opponents have made just 19 corner 3-pointers over their 13 playoff games. That’s as many as the Wolves made in their four-game sweep of the Suns in the first round.

• Though Boston is a plus-51 from 3-point range in this series, the Pacers have outscored them by three total points from the field. But Boston is a plus-27 at the free throw line.

• After committing just 11.6 turnovers per 100 possessions through the first two rounds (lowest among teams that won a series), the Pacers have committed 16.4 per 100 in this series. Boston has won the possession battle, committing 14 fewer turnovers over the three games.

• The Celtics’ Sam Hauser and the Pacers’ Ben Sheppard were a combined 33-for-72 (45.8%) from 3-point range through the first two rounds of the playoffs. They’re a combined 0-for-18 in the conference finals.

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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X. 

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