Parents may no longer have to give up sick kids
Ohio trying to ease burden for health care
For Mark Butler, relinquishing custody of his 16-year-old son so he could get the behavioral health services the child so desperately needed was “the hardest thing I had to do in my life.”
But Butler and his wife really had no option.
Their son, who has autism, was having violent outbursts and mental health issues that could not be treated at home. Doctors said he needed to be in a residential treatment center, services the family’s private insurance would not cover.
“Andrew reached the point where our family’s safety was at risk,” said Butler, who lives in Whitehall. “We were told it was no longer safe to have him living with us. We were told surrendering custody was the only way to get him the help he needed.”
Since making that grueling decision
six years ago, Butler has joined with other families facing similar circumstances to urge state officials to find a better way to serve multi-system youth whose complex and costly needs put them at risk of being separated from their families.
Gov. Mike Dewine's administration says they've found the answer. This week, the Ohio Department of Medicaid invited private companies to submit bids for a specialized managed care plan to serve such children.
OHIORISE aims to provide earlier treatment to children in need, expand home and community-based care and avoid situations where children must leave their home for treatment.
“Too many times parents wrestle with a heart-wrenching choice: relinquishing custody of their child in exchange for access to life-saving services or face insurmountable health-care bills and financial insolvency by seeking care on their own,” Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran said on a press call with reporters this week.
The program, expected to launch in 2022, will serve an estimated 60,000 Ohio youth.
Corcoran said the help is desperately needed, More than 40% of kids over age 15 in the child welfare system live in congregate care settings, while out-of-state placements have grown 200% since 2016. On any given day, she said, 140 Ohio kids are living in out-of-state mental health treatment facilities because in-state treatment is not available.
Those on the front lines say the system has long been overrun.
“Children continue to enter the childprotection system not because of abuse and neglect but because their parents cannot get access to behavioral health care on their own,” said Robin Reese, executive director of Lucas County Children's Services.
“We sometimes have kids sitting in our lobby for days because we cannot access their needs.”
Currently, Reese has been unable to find services for a 14-year-old boy with mental health issues who was being used by older kids to rob banks and stores. The boy is sitting in juvenile detention until caseworkers find a residential treatment center to take him, she said.
Jerry Freewalt, who lives in Columbus, said he and his wife faced an unthinkable choice when their teen-age daughter fell into a deep depression four years ago.
During her 70-day hospitalization for intensive psychiatric treatment, the family's private insurance benefits were exhausted. Doctors said their daughter needed to be transferred to a treatment facility in Indiana, and since their insurance wouldn't cover it, Freewalt and his wife were told they should relinquish custody to Franklin County Children's
Services.
“My wife and I were shell-shocked, It was like pouring salt on a gaping wound,” Freewalt said. “We just wanted what was best for our daughter but for us relinquishing custody was breaking the sacred bond of a family. Our deliberations were heartbreaking.
“So, facing unknown extensive medical costs from her hospital stay and untold costs of her residential treatment, we had to do what was best for Hannah and made preparations with children's services.”
Freewalt said fortunately his daughter improved and they didn't have to give up their parental rights.
“It's a shame for a loving family, a family who puts family first, to face custody relinquishment to acquire needed residential treatment and behavioral health care that saves lives. There has to be a better way.” ccandisky@dispatch.com @ccandisky