Program to help Ohio counties boost foster family recruitment

CLEVELAND — The Ohio attorney general’s office has selected eight counties to receive a financial boost for foster family recruitment as the opioid epidemic continues to uproot thousands of children from their homes every year.

Fairfield, Cuyahoga, Summit and Stark were among eight counties picked for the pilot program that will provide money to cover a full-time staff member dedicated to foster family recruitment and search efforts in each county, the office announced. Allen, Clark, Highland and Montgomery counties were also selected.

The eight counties involved in the new program were chosen because they have been hit particularly hard by the opioid epidemic, the office said.

Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the program in August as part of a series of solutions meant to combat the widening foster family gap.

In addition to the eight full-time recruiters, DeWine’s office launched a website that provides the information needed to become a foster family. The office also created a dedicated email address that expedites the background check process for foster family applicants.

DeWine asked Ohioans who may be interested in becoming a foster parent to “make that leap” and consider opening their house to children “who could use a stable, loving home.”

The need for foster families has grown at an alarming rate in the roughly seven years since the opioid epidemic took hold. Drug arrests and overdoses — fatal or otherwise — often force kids out of their family homes and into the county’s custody.

There were more than 15,000 children in foster care in Ohio as of September, but less than 7,200 foster families available to serve as caretakers, DeWine said in a statement released Wednesday.

Finding suitable foster families was tough enough before the epidemic, but even more difficult now, said Wendy Tracy, executive director at Pathway Caring for Children, which works to place foster kids from Cuyahoga, Summit and Stark counties, among others.

A unique set of challenges come with kids who hail from homes where a caregiver is addicted to opiates or has died from an overdose. Children are often traumatized, or they exhibit behavioral issues and developmental delays that a potential foster family may struggle to handle, Tracy said.

In one recent case that Pathway Caring for Children handled, workers had to find a family willing to take on a baby who was suffering from opioid withdrawals, Tracy said.

“These children require special families because (they) come from very hard situations,” Tracy said.

Parents who die of overdoses often leave behind more than one child, meaning officials must often find foster families that are willing to house several siblings at a time, Tracy said.

Beyond that, agencies strive to find families that seem like a good match for each individual child. An ideal foster family should also be located in a child’s home school district so that they can continue their classes without switching schools.