 |
A quick rundown of Ohio child protection news this week
|
|
Weekly Update for January 23, 2017
|
Association Updates
Lucas County and Scioto County Children Services Directors meet with Statehouse News and key legislators
Director Robin Reese, Lucas County Children Services and Director Lorra Fuller, Scioto County Children Services travelled to Columbus on January 18 and were interviewed by Karen Kasler with Statehouse News. Both directors spoke about the impact the opioid epidemic is having on children services. Robin shared that 510 children were taken into custody with 58% having parental opiate drug use and only 250 foster homes available. Lorra highlighted that her agency took in twice as many drug exposed infants last year than the previous year. Statehouse News aired the interview on January 20 and can be viewed here. While in town, the directors met with several key legislators to share their front line experience with this crisis, its financial impact on children services, and the struggles with recruiting more foster homes, providing ongoing supports to kinship families, maintaining a workforce that has been severely traumatized, and the extreme costs associated with meeting the needs of these complex children with very intense needs. PCSAO sincerely thanks Robin and Lorra for spending the day educating the media and legislators on this crisis.
PCSAO East Central District meeting
The PCSAO East Central District met on January 20. The agenda included PCSAO, ECORTC training, and Differential Response Leadership Council updates. Additional discussion topics included Every Student Succeeds Act, child abuse prevention month activities, and adoption incentive funds. The District next meets on April 28.
PCSAO Southwest District meeting
The PCSAO Southwest District met on Jan. 18. The meeting started off with welcoming the new director of Warren County Children Services, Susan Walther. Also, during the meeting the announcement of two new group homes, Rolando Lewis Placement Facility in Montgomery County, and One Way Services in Clark County. Other highlights of the meeting included discussion about improving normalcy for youth in care, PCSAO updates, and the 23rd Annual Eastern Ohio Leadership Conference on March 22-24. The District next meets on March 15.
Welcome PCSAO's new intern Avery Nelson
PCSAO welcomes our new intern, Avery Nelson, a student at Metro High School. He will intern with PCSAO during the month of January. Avery will assist with research into the opiate epidemic and is interested in learning about child protection advocacy.
|
Announcements and Resources
Call for Proposals Extended for Ohio’s 2017 Opiate Conference
OACBHA, in partnership with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, will host Ohio’s 2017 Opiate Conference: Bridges to Recovery on June 12-13, 2017 in Columbus. This event will focus on treatment, prevention, recovery supports, medication-assisted treatment, criminal justice, and more. For more details and to submit a proposal, click here. The deadline for proposals has been extended to January 27.
ODRC & ODYS identifying shared services opportunities
The Department of Youth Services (ODYS) and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) have collaborated in various ways in an effort to optimize back-office, administrative services, increase efficiencies and better utilize resources. Collaborative efforts have proven to be both beneficial and fruitful, laying the foundation for both agencies to take the next steps of making this shared services effort a priority. A new website rolled out last week that will provide information and resources to staff and stakeholders interested in this work, as well as opportunity to offer comments and feedback. Click here for the new website.
23RD Annual Eastern Ohio Leadership Conference
The 23rd Annual Eastern Ohio Leadership Conference “The Power of Connection” will be held on Mar. 22-24 at the Carlisle Inn in Sugarcreek. This conference is for PCSA and JFS directors, managers, and supervisors across Ohio. The registration is now open. Click here for more information. If you have any questions, contact Darla Zajack at ECORTC (ph: 740.432.2355, Ext. 252; email: darla.zajack@jfs.ohio.gov).
2017 FosterClub All-Star Internship
The FosterClub All-Star Internship Program was founded on the belief that youth who have successfully transitioned from foster care to responsible young adulthood are best suited to impact the transition of their younger peers. The application for the 2017 All-Star Internship deadline is Feb. 20. Interns receive leadership training, help improve outcomes for foster youth transitioning out of care, educate peers and industry professionals, and change public perceptions about foster youth across the nation at conferences and events all summer long. Click here to apply! If you have questions, please email Angel at angel@fosterclub.com.
|
Child Protection in the News
- 1/20/2017 – Lucas County and Scioto County Children Services Directors meet with Statehouse News – The Ohio Channel – Director Robin Reese, Lucas County Children Services and Director Lorra Fuller, Scioto County Children Services travelled to Columbus on Jan. 18 and was interviewed by Karen Kasler with Statehouse News.
- 1/18/2017 – Opioid Crisis and Children Services – WOSU Radio – As the opioid crisis has spread across Ohio, children are often overlooked when parents become addicted.
- 1/15/2017 – Heroin babies are massing on America's horizon – Phillip Morris, The Plain Dealer – The New York Times published a story last March about a historic church in Massachusetts that reluctantly closed its bathrooms to the public after several heroin addicts overdosed in the building's restrooms.
- 1/14/2017 – He likes analytics. Will Kasich use it? (Opinion) – Akron Beacon Journal – "Who wants to live in a Rust Belt?" John Kasich recently asked a gathering in Cleveland. He sees data analytics as a tool to help Ohio "escape this term that drives me nuts." He plans to upgrade the way the state uses the vast amounts of information it collects.
- 1/13/2017 – David W. Haverfield commentary: Addiction crisis is swamping children-services agencies – Columbus Dispatch – It's the phone call no children-services worker wants to take. In the middle of the night, a parent has died of a drug overdose, leaving a child alone with nobody to care for her.
- 1/13/2017 – Stark numbers show heroin’s local grip – Dayton Daily News – An average of seven Montgomery County residents a day were treated for drug overdoses by emergency departments in 2016, and one person alone made eight trips to the ER. Eleven people were treated twice in the same day for overdoses.
|
Jan. 30 I Northeast District Meeting
Feb. 1 I Board of Trustees Meeting
Feb. 2 I Rule Review Committee Meeting
View the full calendar
|
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
|
Public Children Services Association of Ohio | 614-224-5802 |
www.pcsao.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
