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A quick rundown of Ohio child protection news this week
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Weekly Update for July 20, 2020
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Updates from Gov. DeWine
The governor made the following announcements last week:
- In an impassioned evening address on Wednesday, the governor pleaded with Ohioans to wear masks and social distance from people in public, and avoid social gatherings so that Ohio does not end up like other states that have had an explosion in COVID-19 cases.
- In his Thursday address, the governor reviewed the state's early warning system and encouraged Ohioans again to wear masks, maintain physical distance from others and avoid unnecessary social gatherings. You can view the latest on the early warning system here.
- Gov. DeWine also signed an executive order to extend and improve emergency rules that will provide additional flexibility to allow health care professionals to deliver telehealth services. It permits the use of audio, video, and even text messaging to allow people to access critical health care services while remaining socially distant and safe. This rule will apply to a variety of health care services, including critical mental health and addiction services
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Become a sponsor!
The PCSAO annual conference, Partners in Progress, will be a polished virtual event produced by Mills James Productions. Our conference offers the opportunity to reach more than 500 children services professionals across the state. Our audience includes child protection caseworkers, supervisors, administrators, attorneys, directors, students and advocates. United Healthcare is our 40th Anniversary Sponsor.
Visit our sponsorship page for more information.
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Pre-Clearance: As of July 17, there are no children services-related rules in pre-clearance.
Clearance: As of July 17, there are no children services-related rules in clearance.
Filed with JCARR: The following rules were original filed on July 14 with a hearing date of Aug. 18:
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Announcements and Resources
Kirwan Institute offers webinar series on race
The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University is offering a series of free Zoom webinars on race and racism. This series will start on July 16 at 11 a.m. and continue every other Thursday for an extended period.
Register here.
NCWWI hosts innovations exchange on leadership, supervision
The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute is hosting an innovations exchange on leadership and supervision for supervisors, managers, directors and administrators on July 21 from 3-4 p.m. The COVID-19 pandemic caused child welfare programs to quickly change how we provide services to families and support the workforce. NCWII is hosting a monthly forum to exchange information about the best and promising practices agencies have developed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Register and see future topics here.
Understanding the Human Trafficking Legal Landscape webinar
PCSAO, in partnership with the Ohio Department of Youth Services and Ohio Department of Public Safety, Office of Criminal Justice Services, will offer a webinar on the legal landscape of human trafficking on July 29 from 12-1:30 p.m. Speakers will be PCSAO Anti-Human Trafficking Coordinator Bhumika Patel and Emily Dunlap, attorney from Advocating Opportunity. The webinar will offer an overview of federal and state laws addressing human trafficking. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 was the first comprehensive federal law about human trafficking, and it created a “Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution” framework used by communities across the United States to combat human trafficking. The webinar will discuss the protections offered to victims and survivors of human trafficking through this law, subsequent reauthorizations, and other key federal legislation. Speakers will also discuss how Ohio has passed legislation in the past decade to increase protections and supports for adult and minor victims and survivors of human trafficking.
Register here
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Child Protection in the News
After being halted because of the coronavirus pandemic, in-person informational meetings for foster parents will resume July 25 in Montgomery County. The need for foster care families is high in order to support the children in the foster care system.
Ohio's foster care system does not adequately track psychotropic and opioid medication prescriptions for children in its care who have painful injuries or conditions including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders that require such drugs, according to an inspector general's report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Right now, families and young people are dealing with unprecedented financial stress, social isolation, and abrupt changes to daily life. Child welfare agencies are worried about devastating cuts to their already limited funding, as Ohio and states all over the country face severe budget shortfalls, and Leader McConnell and President Trump refuse to help.We can’t allow children and young people in foster care to fall through the cracks during this pandemic.
A group of children services experts from around Ohio are putting together recommendations to improve the system. They say their mission must keep moving forward even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Gov. Mike DeWine's Children Services Transformation Advisory Council is proposing ways to encourage kinship care, when a relative or a close family connection raises a child when the parent can't or won't.
Senator Sherrod Brown is looking to help child welfare agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, he introduced the "Child Welfare Emergency Assistance Act" to provide funding for key programs to support youth and families. Brown says the agencies have been particularly hard hit and are worried about devastating cuts here in Ohio and across the country because state and local governments face severe budget shortfalls.
When Katarina Cook was an Akron judge, she had a woman in her court whose drunken-driving case was being closely watched by domestic court. Domestic court officials wanted to be sure the woman was doing what she was supposed to and – if she wasn’t – this could impact her visitation time with her children. That case gave Cook, who became a Summit County Domestic Relations judge in 2017, an idea for a program in her new court aimed at accomplishing the same goal – helping people in their recovery so they can improve their family’s lives.
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Profiles of Hope and Courage:
Children Services in the Era of COVID-19
Elizabeth: 'Finding that passion is what drives you to continue'
Elizabeth Moore is new to her position as the Foster Care and Community Engagement Coordinator for Marion County Children Services, having started in February, but she is not new to the agency or to the issues about which she engages the public. As an undergraduate student at The Ohio State University and a participant in the University Partnership Program, Elizabeth served as an intern in the area of direct support for foster families, helping to license foster homes.
Not only does Elizabeth have a history with the agency, she and her husband are adoptive parents and former foster parents. This gives her a unique perspective.
PCSAO is collecting stories from the front lines of child protection to raise awareness of the challenges our children services professionals, and the families they serve, are facing during this pandemic.
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Aug. 5 | Board of Trustees Meeting
Aug. 7 | Community Education Committee Meeting
Aug. 12 | Ohio START Summit
Aug. 14 | Conference Planning Committee Meeting
Note: Meetings will be held via web meeting or or the foreseeable future.
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Public Children Services Association of Ohio | 614-224-5802 |
www.pcsao.org
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