Panel makes recommendations to fix foster care
Wants more children to find permanent homes
A group reviewing ways to improve Ohio's children services system on Friday released 37 recommendations to help more foster children find permanent homes and make other reforms to the child welfare system.
The Children Services Transformation Advisory Council, created a year ago by Gov. Mike Dewine, called for: training and support for high-risk parents to help keep families intact; the creation of a state ombudsman to investigate complaints about the foster-care system; additional help for kinship caretakers; and expanding local programs to place foster children in permanent homes.
The council also had several recommendations for improving how the court system deals with child welfare cases, including a review of the courtappointed special advocate and guardian ad litem programs and reinforcement of the established 12-month requirement for reunification and placement. Dewine said Ohio simply has to do better for these children.
“In less than a decade, Ohio has seen a nearly 30% increase in the number of children coming into foster care. Much of this is fueled by Ohio's drug epidemic. In fact, a survey by the Public Children Services Association of Ohio showed that half of all children in foster care are there because of the addiction of one or both parents. These children have incredibly complex needs. But the number of specialized foster caregivers is simply not keeping up with those needs,” Dewine said Friday on a conference call with reporters.
“As a result more than 1 in 8 foster youths live in a congregate care setting and not with a family. That rate is nearly 50% for teenagers over 15. Every year, nearly 1,000 Ohio children – our children – age out of foster care. That's a nice way of saying they don't have parents; they were never adopted; they turned 18. Too many of these youth will experience homelessness, other poor outcomes that limit their success.”
The panel received input from more than 1,500 stakeholders during hearings held throughout the state.
“The issues we were asked to grapple with over the last year, they weren't simple issues to resolve,” said Melinda Haggerty, of the Dave Thomas Foundation
The panel received input from more than 1,500 stakeholders during hearings held throughout the state.
for Adoption and a member of the advisory panel.
“The child welfare system involves a delicate balance of very complicated family dynamics and interests and it feels like we are always trying to rebalance these interests to make the system work best for children.” ccandisky@dispatch.com @ccandisky