A quick rundown of Ohio child protection news this week

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Weekly Update for May 15, 2017

Association Updates PCSAO is hiring! PCSAO seeks a full-time Administrator of Grants to manage the financial and procedural compliance of a $5 million federal grant and future awarded grants, and to oversee the financial and record-keeping side of the grant-making process with sub-grantees. This full-time position will be grant-funded. Deadline to apply is May 31. For more information, please click here. Download: 13th edition of PCSAO’s biennial Factbook The 13th edition of PCSAO’s biennial Factbook is now available.  This redesigned publication includes an overview of critical issues affecting Ohio’s children services system as well as county profiles highlighting key children services program and fiscal information.     Welcome PCSAO’s intern, Marina Olson PCSAO welcomes Marina Olson as a summer intern.  A graduate of the University of Kansas, Marina is currently a student in Ohio University’s Master of Public Administration program.  Prior to graduate school, Marina worked as an adoption specialist in Kansas. While at PCSAO, Marina will provide policy and research support in the areas of kinship caregivers and immigration and assist with various PCSAO initiatives. Welcome, Marina! HOPE and Succeed shine on recent webinar HOPE and Succeed primary parent support groups were part of a Birth Parent National Network (BPNN) webinar in April.  The models and collaborative experiences of the six HOPE pilot counties were shared along with the lessons learned thus far. The counties spoke about the value of involving Succeed groups and the innovative work being done around peer support with juvenile courts and ADAMH Boards. The webinar remains available on the BPNN website. Birth parents and individuals working in child welfare can apply to be members of the network via its web page. PRT early evaluation results show promise At the May 12 PRT Advisory Council meeting, members reviewed preliminary evaluation data on the youth-centered permanency roundtables pilot. The model seeks to secure permanency for the longest-staying youth in foster care in 10 counties. Not surprisingly, analysis suggests that the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome. Stay tuned for a workshop at the PCSAO conference in September for a full report!

Announcements and Resources Register: May 26 “Lunchtime LIVE” substance abuse webinar Join statewide opioid expert Orman Hall for the next "Lunchtime LIVE" webinar, "Relating Current Ohio Opiate Epidemic Trends to Child Welfare Practice" on May 26 at noon. Collaborative practice among child welfare, substance use disorder treatment agencies, and the courts starts with understanding the data. This free one-hour webinar presents a broad epidemiological view of opioid addiction in Ohio with a special emphasis on women of child-bearing age. The scope of opioid addiction and its impact on the Ohio child welfare system will be examined along with practice reforms such as new SACWIS changes to capture screening information. Facilitated learning applications will look at how child welfare professionals can improve available data on opioid addiction and potential steps toward improving outcomes for opioid-dependent parents. Click here to register for this or other webinars in the series. OCWTP publishes 2016 annual report The Ohio Child Welfare Training Program just released its 2016 annual report. Click here to view the annual report online. You can download a PDF version to your computer by finding and clicking the "download from cloud" icon in the lower right corner of your browser window.  Foster youth attend OSU ACTION Ohio was honored to partner with its allies to host the fourth OSU College for the Day for Ohio foster care youth. Youth participants represented Franklin, Athens and Montgomery counties. Many thanks to OSU CHEE (Center for Higher Education Enterprise), OSU DICE (Diversity, Intercultural and Community Engagement), Buckeyes for Adoption and Foster Care, and Franklin County Children Services. The day included a higher education scavenger hunt, youth reporting out and sharing their goals for the future, a residence hall tour, youth sharing their talents (art, music and comedy), an engaging and wonderful speaker, Dr. Micky Sharma, hands-on networking , and an opportunity to play sports.

Child Protection in the News May 11 – Rep. Ryan Smith: Investments made to combat drug epidemic –  Herald-Dispatch   The Ohio House is committed to fighting our state's drug epidemic. We recently passed our plan to face this issue with bold reforms in the state's operating budget. Our plan is not a piecemeal approach, but rather one that identifies and prioritizes areas of greatest need. May 9 – Drug abuse sending more children into state custody – Dayton Daily News The twin ravages of the Great Recession and a persistent opioid epidemic have led to an 11 percent increase in the number of children in state custody on any given day since 2010, costing the state millions more and leaving caseworkers overwhelmed, according to a new study released today.  May 8 – Day by Day: Communities shouldn't forget fostered youths – This Week Community News  Ohio Fostering Connection shows grim statistics on Ohio youths aged out of foster care: By age 19, 14 percent have a child; 24 percent work full time; 12 percent work part time; 26 percent had been homeless; 36 percent had been incarcerated; and 53 percent had not finished high school or received their GED.  May 8 – Opioid Crisis Sparks Urgent Need for Ohio Foster Families – Public News Service There are an estimated 1,400 more children in Ohio foster care compared to six years ago, and about 7,000 are in protective custody because their parents were using drugs, including opioids.  May 8 – Heroin epidemic feeds growing need for foster parents (Includes video) –WYTV Trumbull County Children Services has seen a 40 percent increase of children in their care since the opiate crisis first took hold of the Mahoning Valley in 2014.  May 5 – Lawsuit: State threatened to take children after false positive drug test (Includes video) – Cincinnati.com Holly Schulkers said they knew she wasn't on heroin before she left the St. Elizabeth hospital in Edgewood, but that didn't stop state social workers and hospital staff from threatening to take her children and putting her through a two-month "nightmare."  May 5 – Snowball Effect of Opioids on Ohio's Child Welfare System (Opinion) – Chronicle of Social Change Ohio's child welfare system is in crisis, due chiefly to the opioid epidemic. The ability of child-serving agencies to provide essential services to vulnerable children - the innocent victims of this crisis - is at great risk.

Upcoming Events May 17 |  Southwest District Meeting May 18 |  Northwest District Meeting May 26 |  Conference Planning Committee Meeting View the full calendar

Employment Opportunities Looking for a career in child protection? Or a new position to challenge yourself? Check out the latest job openings in child protection. We also list University Partnership Program graduates looking for employment.

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