Weekly Update: October 12, 2021 |
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Board of Trustees meets
PCSAO's Board of Trustees met online Oct. 6 for its monthly meeting. Trustees approved September meeting minutes, accepted August financial reports, approved a dues memo for communication at district meetings this month, debriefed the annual conference, and began planning the Dec. 2-3 executive membership meeting, which will include the board's annual meeting Dec. 2. The board unanimously opposed SB 216, Custody of Infants - Substance Exposure, and discussed implications of HB 92, Child Abuse Reporting. The board meets next virtually on Nov. 3.
ODJFS embarks on treatment foster care reform
The Office of Families and Children launched a broad-based workgroup Oct. 5 to modernize Ohio's foster care system, with a specific focus on new training, supports, levels of care, and rates for treatment foster care. Melanie Allen of Sandusky JFS, Donna Seed of Lucas CSB, DeeDee Prezioso of Trumbull CSB, and Megan Rowe of Wyandot JFS serve on the workgroup along with PCSAO's Scott Britton to represent public agencies. Other stakeholders include the Ohio Children's Alliance and private network foster care providers, the Ohio Family Care Association, several foster parents, Lisa Dickson of FosterACTION and Doris Edelmann of the OHIO Youth Advisory Board who advocated including former foster youth through focus groups, and representatives of OhioMHAS and Medicaid. The workgroup will meet regularly, with the goal of proposing rules by April 2022 that would be finalized by July for a three-month pilot prior to statewide adoption in October. PCSAO appreciates that the ODJFS work is starting with recommendations made by a diverse stakeholder group convened in 2019 and 2020 by PCSAO and the Office of Children Services Transformation. PCSAO has been hosting a workgroup of county leaders since those reports were released to continue the conversation about treatment foster care reform. That group met Oct. 6 to hear from a county leader in Colorado about that state's work on a placement continuum, including treatment foster care reforms.
Rules Committee meets, discusses training requirements
The PCSAO Rules Review Committee met virtually on Oct. 7. With ODJFS staff, the committee reviewed and discussed proposed changes to 5101:2-33-55, Education and training requirements for PCSA caseworkers, and to 5101:2-33-56, Training requirements for PCSA supervisors. The committee was also briefed on upcoming rules that are scheduled for review over the next several months. The committee next meets on Nov. 4.
Community Education Committee meets
The PCSAO Community Education Committee met on Oct. 8. Committee members discussed Family First messaging around prevention services, the PCSAO Ride Along Campaign and upcoming levies. Committee members shared updates from their agencies and brainstormed meeting topics for 2022. The committee meets next in December.
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Join the Ohio START team!
Ohio START and PCSAO are seeking a part-time regional technical assistance consultant to assist with the implementation and sustainability of the Ohio START model in Northeastern Ohio. The consultant will be responsible for providing technical assistance including adhering to model fidelity and enhancing collaboration among community partners. Read more and apply here.
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PCSAO 2021 Annual Conference |
Our conference was a tremendous success! Thank you to those of you who joined us, in-person or virtually. We have verified attendance for all workshops and are in the process of sending certificates and uploading credit to E-track and the counselor and social work board. Please allow a couple weeks for your credit to appear. Continuing legal education credits have already been submitted. If you have questions about your credits, please contact Cassandra Freeland or Anne Potts and include your name, agency and the workshop you attended.
Please complete the overall conference evaluation so that we can plan an even better conference for you next year. Please take a few minutes to complete individual workshop evaluations, which can be found in the Socio app, where you will continue to be able to access presentations and handouts, connect with vendors and sponsors, and network with peers over the next 12 months. They can also be found on our conference webpage.
Thanks to our World Champion Sponsors!
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Mark your calendars!
PCSAO's 2022 annual conference will be Monday through Wednesday, Sept. 19-21, 2022, at the Hilton Easton. We look forward to welcoming you in this new space, which will allow us to grow and spread out, as well as offering us many nearby amenities.
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Pre-Clearance: The following rules are open for comments until Oct. 19:
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Rule 5101:2-33-29 - Verification of United States citizenship and immigration status for all children in foster care.
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Rule 5101:2-47-03.1 - Qualified and disqualified alien eligibility for foster care maintenance and independent living services.
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Rule 5101:2-47-17 - Title IV- E foster care maintenance (FCM) program reimbursability: Reimbursements for FCM and child care for public foster homes, relative homes, and pre-finalized adoptive homes.
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Rule 5101:2-47-21 - Title IV-E Foster Care Maintenance (FCM) Reimbursement for a Child Placed into a Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP).
Clearance: As of Oct. 8, there are no children services-related rules in Clearance.
Filed with JCARR: The following rule was original-filed on Oct. 6 with a hearing on Nov. 10:
The following rule was final-filed on Oct. 5 with an effective date of Oct. 15:
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Rule 5101:2-38-04 - PCPA requirements for completing the semiannual administrative review.
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Resources and Announcements |
Foster care entry rates grew faster for infants
A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows that between 2011 and 2018, the number of infants entering foster care increased 24 percent, reaching around 50,000 in 2018. This increase was nearly 13 times as much as the 1.8 percent increase in placements for other age groups. Infants accounted for more than 70 percent of the total increase in foster care entries. In Ohio, infant foster care entries increased by 30 percent, higher than the national average but below neighboring states Kentucky (52 percent), Indiana (72 percent) and West Virginia (92 percent). Pennsylvania’s infant entry rate was at 21 percent, while Michigan saw a 1 percent decrease in its rate.
Glenn College Leadership Forum Oct. 29
The OSU Glenn College of Public Affairs Leadership forum includes engaging programming that offers solutions to issues impacting communities large and small. The forum is a one-day virtual event held on Oct. 29. Keynote and breakout speakers will expand upon the public policy landscape through inspiring stories of service and case studies backed by data and resources. Find more information and register here.
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Child Protection in the News |
Butler County Children Services officials report there are only 297 children in paid foster care placement, which is the lowest number most officials can remember with multiple programs helping the efforts. The Butler County commissioners this week approved an additional $447,349 for group home placements for foster children, and Commissioner Cindy Carpenter expressed concern about the large amount.
Are Ohio kids getting the care they deserve? ABC6/FOX28 investigators have been looking into this, hearing from many of you. We spent months looking into the care Ma'Khia Bryant received before her death. That created some discussion, including from one state lawmaker who has drafted a "Bill of Rights" for kids in the Ohio foster care system.
A firefighter, college professor and a Cleveland-area city councilman were among 161 people arrested in a sex sting operation last week, described as the state's largest focused on human trafficking. Three of the perpetrators were willing to pay to have sex with people they thought were minors. Ten minors reported missing were recovered during a simultaneous operation carried out by the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Governor's Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force announced recently the release of a new comprehensive resource guide for children services professionals to aid in the understanding of and the response to human trafficking.
Karen and Tobias Thompson have an intimate love story that dates back decades. Four years ago, the couple took in Karen’s niece and nephew Wilnya and William, a set of twins who were still in elementary school at the time. After learning that the children’s younger twin sisters were in foster care, Tobias decided the little girls should also live with them.
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Calendar and Job Postings |
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Oct. 15 | East Central District Meeting
Oct. 18 | Legislative Committee Meeting
Oct. 20 | Southwest District Meeting
Oct. 21 | Northwest District Meeting
Oct. 25 | Southeast District Meeting
Oct. 25 | Northeast District Meeting
Note: Some meetings are being held via web and others in-person.
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Looking for a career in child protection? Or a new position to challenge yourself?
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