Trumbull County on Thursday joined several other communities and made the first move toward suing pain pill manufacturers and distributors to pay for the results of a population addicted to opioids by hiring a team of attorneys.
The eight-year renewal levy will help fund safety-net programs for children in crisis, the developmentally disabled, the frail elderly and indigent - as well as those struggling with opioid addiction.
As Ohio's drug crisis overwhelms county-run child protection services, voters on Tuesday approved 12 of 13 levies for abused and neglected kids.
On Oct. 23, 2017, Adams County Children Services employees, board members, and special guests, Isaac and Jenna Wooten and son Dodge, met with the Adams County Commissioners to proclaim November as Adoption Recognition and Recruitment Month. The theme for National Adoption Recognition and Recruitment Month for November 2017 is "Teens Need Families, No Matter What." This theme highlights the importance of identifying well-prepared and committed families for the thousands of teenagers in foster care.
Wednesday, the Ohio House passed House Bill 137, to require Ohio join every other state in the nation where law-enforcement officials are mandated to report child abuse and neglect to county public child protective services agencies. Ohio's law currently requires officers to notify children services only upon receipt of a child-abuse report. But our officers are out in the community, where they may witness or suspect abuse, especially when police are called to homes on domestic-violence complaints. This law would position another 35,000 people to sound an early alarm.
Maureen Centa of Caring for Kids, a private organization that finds placements for children who are in county custody, says the need for foster and adoptive parents is overwhelming. "About two years ago, we would see about 20 referrals a week come across our desk for kids needing homes. Now it's 20 a day. Every day. Every day we have at least 20 kids from all over Ohio that need to find homes," Centa said.
Children service leaders say these kids also have more problems because of trauma they've experienced living in chaotic, drug-filled households. Children also are staying in foster care longer because it takes additional time for opioid addicts to kick the habit.
On a recent visit to Los Angeles, the Sanders family had the opportunity to go on a guided tour of the Warner Brothers Studio. What they didn't know was that they were about to be guests on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
The Cleveland Foundation has announced grants totaling $3.7 million to nonprofit organizations serving residents of Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geauga counties. Grants awarded in support of social services include $60,000 to the Waiting Child Fund in support of a collaboration with the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services and other community partners aimed at developing programs and best practices focused on improving the lives of LGBTQ youth in foster care
A northeast Ohio Democrat's bill strives to streamline and make more efficient the processes by which the state's most vulnerable individuals gain access to public assistance. House Bill 340 would eliminate the wasteful and often embarrassing practice of county employees having to request and enter the same basic information multiple times when it has been collected and recorded by another county worker often just steps away.
They are the orphans of the opiate epidemic. Children from families devastated by addiction. And their numbers are climbing at rates communities can't match. Now in Licking County, voters are being asked to help.
Butler County will spend about $753,000 this year on subsidies for adoptive parents, and officials here say negotiating those contracts is one of the most frustrating things they do. The topic came up during the Children Services' budget hearing and Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said she does not like the fact there are no set guidelines for these payments.
Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro outlined her administration’s efforts to address three key areas in the county — economic development, public safety and the continuing opiate crisis — at the State of Summit County address Oct. 25 at the John S. Knight Center
The judge who oversees adoptions in Mahoning County says there is an urgent need for families to foster and adopt children.
