Association Updates
Ohio START regional meetings successful
Ohio START concluded its current round of regional meetings this week with the central Ohio meeting in Delaware on Feb. 25 and the southeast Ohio meeting in Chillicothe on Feb. 26. The meetings featured presentations from PCSAO and Butler County Children Services. Butler County staff presented on their successes as well as lessons learned while developing their steering committee and direct-line meetings.
Family First Leadership Advisory Committee meets
The ODJFS Family First Leadership Advisory Committee met on Feb. 26 and celebrated the planning accomplishments to date. The committee is moving from defining the “what” for Family First to defining the “how” for implementation. Updates were shared about the recently passed Family First Transition Act including the best way to leverage readiness funding. Peter Watson from Casey Family Programs presented on how other states have approached Family First Act planning and implementation. The Center for the Study of Social Policy presented the case flow process developed by a workgroup for the Prevention Services Subcommittee. The leadership committee approved two recommendations from the Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) Subcommittee related to trauma-informed treatment models and competencies. Other Family First Act updates provided included Tiered Treatment Foster Care, Child Fatality, and Chafee/Independent Living. The leadership committee will meet March 25 via webinar to hear about the finalization of the Family First Act roadmap.
Legislative Committee update
The PCSAO Legislative Committee met on Feb. 24. PCSAO provided policy and legislative updates. The committee reviewed recently introduced legislation including:
- SB 240/HB 408 — Regards children’s crisis care facilities
- HB 443 — Regards mental health/substance use disorder benefit parity
- HB 506 — Prohibits placement of child with relative child does not know
- HB 505 — Eliminates the specific authority of residential facilities to operate within residential zoning districts
The committee meets next on March 16.
Rules update
Pre-clearance: The following rules are in pre-clearance for five-year review until March 19:
- Rule 5101:2-42-87 — Termination of substitute care and custody of a child.
- Rule 5101:2-42-90 — Information to be provided to children, caregivers, school districts and juvenile courts.
In addition, "Confidentiality and dissemination of child welfare information" is backed up in pre-clearance for a 14-day period until March 5. This version includes proposed changes based on feedback received.
Clearance: As of Feb. 27, no children services-related rules were in clearance.
Filed with JCARR: The following rules were original-filed on Feb. 24; a public hearing is scheduled for March 30:
- Rule 5101:2-37-01 – PCSA requirements for completing the safety assessment
- Rule 5101:2-37-02 – PCSA requirements for completing the safety plan
- Rule 5101:2-37-03 – PCSA requirements for completing the family assessment
- Rule 5101:2-37-04 – PCSA requirements for completing the reunification assessment
