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A quick rundown of Ohio child protection news this week
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Weekly Update for August 27, 2018
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Association Updates
Featured Speakers: Mike Kenney and Shannon Deinhart
Things are changing. Between the Family First Prevention Services Act, the Children's Continuum of Care Reform, the increasing number of children in foster care, and the compounding impact of substance abuse, it is clear that child welfare in Ohio will look very different in the coming months and years. It’s up to us to figure out who is going to do all this work. What needs to change? What skills do we need to learn? How do we bring evidence-informed practices to Ohio? What will it take to embrace the evolving landscape of our work and help Ohio to become a beacon for innovation and excellence in implementation? Mike Kenney and Shannon Deinhart, the co-Founders of
Kinnect
(transforming from Waiting Child Fund), will keynote the breakfast plenary on Friday, Sept. 2 at the
2018 PCSAO Conference
. Mike and Shannon will focus on the lessons learned from implementing family finding and engagement work throughout Ohio and how these lessons can inform our decisions moving forward.
We also are pleased to share that both major-party gubernatorial candidates will offer remarks during the conference on their vision for children, families, and Ohio’s children services system.
Richard Cordray
will speak during the awards luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 19, and
Mike DeWine
will speak during the awards luncheon on Thursday, Sept. 20.
Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio endorses PCSAO’s reform plan
Many thanks to Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio for endorsing the Children’s Continuum of Care Reform. Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio added its name to the growing list of state and national organizations supporting the redesign of the child protection system.
Learn more.
EDMS – Child Welfare Special Webinar
The Child Welfare EDMS project team is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, August 28th from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. to address the distribution of tablets purchased by the State of Ohio to counties participating in the Child Welfare EDMS solution.
Please
register for the webinar
. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar as an attendee.
Anti-Human Trafficking Update
PCSAO’s Anti-Human Trafficking Coordinator, Bhumika Patel, and human trafficking grant partners, Veronica Scherbauer from the Department of Public Safety, Seth Boughton from the Ohio Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers, and Rebekkah O’Bryan from the Department of Youth Services, met on August 21 to discuss successes since the start of the grant and goals for year 2. PCSAO and grant partners are able to provide interdisciplinary trainings to children services agencies and juvenile courts through this grant project; for more information, contact Bhumika Patel at
bhumika@pcsao.org
. The
National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center
is hosting a webinar about
“Human Trafficking and Individuals with Disabilities”
on Sept. 5, 1-2:30 p.m.
Rules Update
- 5 rules regarding the Interstate Placement of Children, 5101:2-52, are posted until Aug. 30. These rules are up for 5-year review and will be amended for clarification and to add additional language from the compact regulations into OAC.
- 5101:2-40-04, Kinship Permanency Incentive Program, and 5101:2-42-60, Placement Services for Infants of Incarcerated Mothers, are posted until Sept. 10. They are up for 5-year review.
- 40 foster care licensing rules from chapters 5, 7, and 9 are posted until Sept. 15. The Rapback rule 5101:2-33-80 has also posted. They are up for 5-year review.
- 8204 Adoption and Child Study Inventory Revisions
- 8205 Amendments to Foster Care Licensing OAC rules in Chapter 5101:2-5
- 8207 Five-year review and amendments to OAC health care rules
Helping Ohio Parent Effectively (HOPE) Update
HOPE Parent Partner, Jennifer Alberts is on a roll. In addition to the publication of her book and book signings reported earlier, Jennifer took part in a webinar hosted by ODJFS on advocacy this week. Jennifer shared her lived experience as both a foster child and being a primary parent who was system involved. She also offered her ideas for what caseworkers could do better engage primary parents in the process. Thanks, Jennifer for sharing your story.
OHIO Youth Advisory Board Update
Video Project – the OHIO Youth Advisory Board (OHIO YAB) recently created a short video to recruit community members to serve as foster parents for teenagers. We are happy to announce that this project is complete. You can
watch the finished video on YouTube
.
Sponsorship Needed – t
he
OHIO YAB Board has been nominated to be Senator Portman’s 2018 Angels in Adoption
®
honoree!
The OHIO YAB would like to send three youth to accept this award but unfortunately travel costs are not covered in the trip package that includes an Advocacy Fair, a tour of the U.S. Capitol Building, a Legislative Seminar led by Congress, a Hill Day, participating youth receiving a celebratory pin from the United States Senate, and an Angels in Adoption Reception and Gala.
The OHIO YAB are looking for donations or sponsorships to cover the cost of travel for these three youth. OHIO YAB needs to raise $5,250. Donations or sponsorships can be sent to: Ohio Children’s Alliance, ATTN: ACTION Ohio, 2600 Corporate Exchange Drive, Suite 180, Columbus OH 43231.
Ohio Children’s Alliance’s Federal Tax ID #: 34-1168205.
If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact
Lisa Dickson
with ACTION Ohio.
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Announcements and Resources
Regional FFPSA Listening Sessions
The Office of Families and Children in coordination with Casey Family Programs and other Ohio child welfare partners, is planning a series of regional FFPSA Listening Sessions as they kickoff statewide planning for the Family First Prevention Services Act. They are still in the planning phase of these meetings, however, they anticipate they will have an agenda and additional information to share with in the next two weeks. For more information and to register in advance, contact Joanna Valentine at
Joanna.Valentine@jfs.ohio.gov
at your earliest convenience.
Foster Families Struggle Finding Care for Children with Mental Health Needs
Health care is a primary issue for all children, however, children in foster care are suffering as many of their behavioral health needs are not being met because of health insurance issues. In a
2016 study published in the journal Pediatrics
, children in foster care were found to suffer from anxiety more than five times other children, seven times as likely to have depression and six times as likely to have behavioral problems. However, as many physicians, specifically those who work with mental illness, are already under an increased workload, some of these physicians do not take Medicaid, which is also the largest insurer of children in foster care in the nation. Florida, Georgia and Texas are states that are highlighted in
this article
as trying to close that gap and make sure that foster families receive adequate care to deal with their needs.
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Child Protection in the News
As providers in medical, behavioral health and the courts rally behind the call to fight the opioid epidemic in the Mid-Ohio Valley, funding sources have begun putting money to requested programming.
Cleveland Angels President Gretchen Dupps is working with a volunteer board of nine to establish a branch of the national nonprofit National Angels in Westlake by the end of the month. "There's a significant need nationwide," Dupps said. Currently, there are 200 children in Lorain County's foster care system, she said.
The lives of some foster children in Ohio are becoming more stable, with a new approach to establishing permanency. Thirteen counties are using Youth Centered Permanency Roundtables to focus on improving outcomes for teens in foster care who are in long term custody and in danger of aging out of the system.
Right now, there’s a child feeling scared and alone, confused about why they can’t be with their family. It’s a heartbreaking scene that plays out every day in Hamilton County.
A legal advocacy group has filed a federal lawsuit against The Buckeye Ranch, saying the residential treatment center denied investigators access to video footage and wouldn’t let them speak to children receiving care at the Grove City center.
A disturbing trend between pregnant woman and opioid addiction was recently revealed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency found the trend quadrupled over a 15-year period between 1999 and 2014.
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Sept. 5 | Board of Trustees Meeting
Sept. 6 | Rules Review Committee Meeting
Sept. 12 |
Ohio START Southern Consortium
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“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.”
– William Pollard
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Public Children Services Association of Ohio | 614-224-5802 |
www.pcsao.org
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