Association Updates
PCSAO congratulates
incoming ODJFS Director
On Jan. 10 Governor-elect Mike DeWine announced that Kimberly Hall will be the new Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) director.
Hall currently serves as senior vice president of administration and general counsel at Columbus State Community College
.
We are looking forward to working with Kimberly in the coming months! We are also pleased to see that many child welfare champions will be taking posts in the new Administration, including Sen. Randy Gardner (R-Bowling Green) as chancellor of higher education; Jeff Davis as director of developmental disabilities; Maureen Corcoran as director of Medicaid; Lori Criss as director of mental health and addiction services; and Ryan Gies as director of youth services.
Executive transitions
A number of executive transitions took place during the past few holiday weeks. Following is a list of incoming directors we would like to welcome:
- Hancock: Randy Galbraith has been appointed as director after previous director Diana Hoover retired
- Huron: Lenora Minor moved from interim director to director and Rene King departed as administrator
- Montgomery: Tom Kelly moved to county administrator and Michelle Niedermier was appointed director of JFS
- Portage: Tammy Devine is retiring as administrator and Darlene Baad is moving from Summit County to take her position
- Sandusky: Cindy Bilby stepped down as director, and Melanie Allen was appointed as interim director
- Van Wert: Marcia Drake retired as director and Erinn Mendenhaul-Sellers was appointed in her place
PCSAO welcomes new manager of operations
PCSAO is pleased to introduce Nitina Francis, who is stepping into Jeed Jitprasert’s shoes as our manager of operations.
Nitina is a native of Columbus who graduated with her MBA from Ohio Dominican University. She comes to PCSAO from the private sector after working as a senior pricing analyst for the past three years.
Read more
about Nitina or she can be reached at
nitina@pcsao.org
. Please join us in welcoming her to our team!
Board of Trustees meets
The PCSAO Board of Trustees held its first meeting of the year on Jan. 9. President Kathi Spirk, Clinton County JFS, welcomed the new trustees to the board. They include: Danny Brenneman, Coshocton County JFS; David Haverfield, Tuscarawas County JFS; Kellijo Jeffries, Portage County JFS; Kathy Oliver, Seneca County JFS; Tammy Osborne-Smith, Jackson County JFS; Robin Reese, Lucas County CSB; and Chip Spinning, Franklin County CSB. The board approved the Nov. 29 meeting minutes and the December 2018 Treasurer’s Report. The board welcomed PCSAO’s new manager of operations, Nitina Francis (see story above). Discussion topics for the board included 2019 contracts, ODJFS recent announcements, Executive Membership Meeting draft agenda topics, Dues Committee Charter, Continuum of Care Reform priorities, other Association updates, and legislative and rules updates. The Board of Trustees will meet next on Feb. 6.
Anti-human trafficking update
Fostering Pathways to Success Conference volunteers needed
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio Reach and JOURNEY to Successful Living are partnering this year
for our 2019 Fostering Pathways to Success Conference! This
dynamic event introduces our foster youth and young adults to a unique and interactive experience! Independence City will offer foster youth and young adults (ages 14-21) a fun yet challenging life simulation that will give participants a glimpse into real-life scenarios. Foster youth will have an opportunity to practice and develop independent living skills that will help them in life; exercise critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making abilities; learn how to gain access to housing, transportation, Medicaid, food assistance, and other needed community resources; and explore postsecondary supports for career preparation, such as college, vocational and apprenticeship opportunities and the armed forces.
Please join us in making this event a huge success. We are seeking 100 adult volunteers to assist our youth with navigating through the Independence City experience. We have many opportunities and time slots for you to consider. If you volunteer more than four hours, then your parking in the Convention Center Goodale Garage will also be validated. Youth really appreciate the warmth and kindness that volunteers provide them during this annual event, and they really look forward to our interaction every year!
The conference will be Wednesday, April 3 at the Columbus Convention Center, 400 N. High Street, Columbus.
Please remember that you will first need to receive your supervisor’s approval prior to signing up to a volunteer task/time slot occurring during your workday. All registered volunteers will need to participate in a two-hour volunteer orientation on Feb. 26 from either 10 a.m.-Noon or 1:30-3:30 p.m. Assignment details for all volunteer roles will be provided at that time (your t-shirt sizes and dietary restrictions will be obtained during that time). Please contact
Sonia.Tillman@jfs.ohio.gov
regarding any questions and register to volunteer
here
.
General Assembly adjourns following busy lame-duck session
Several bills impacting children services issues received attention during the recent “lame-duck session,” the time between an election and when the next General Assembly term begins. In Ohio, lame-duck occurs in November/December of even-numbered years. Some of these bills PCSAO had been following closely, while others included last-minute relevant amendments that passed in the lame-duck session. To find an overview of relevant bills and what happened during the 2018 lame-duck legislative session, click
here
.
Rules update
The PCSAO Rules Review Committee met via teleconference on Jan. 10. Shelby Cully, Lucas County, now serves as chair, replacing Erica Sabados, Cuyahoga County, who served for two years. We appreciate Erica’s leadership and welcome Shelby. ODJFS provided an overview of and fielded questions on Chapter 5101:2-44 rules (which includes the State Adoption Maintenance Subsidy and the Post Adoption Special Services Subsidy program), currently in Clearance through Jan. 21. The committee also reviewed Chapter 5101:2-37 Assessments, currently in pre-clearance through Feb. 2. The committee next meets on Feb. 6.
Rules in Clearance: Five-Year Review of Chapter 5101:2-44 rules (SAMS, PASSS, and Medicaid eligibility for children with special needs). The proposed changes are largely minor and are summarized
here
.
Comments
are due Jan. 21.
Rules in Pre-Clearance: Chapter 5101:2-37 Assessments are in pre-clearance through Feb. 2. These are up for five-year review:
The following rules were original-filed with JCARR on Jan. 7 and are scheduled for a public hearing on Feb. 14:
- 5101:2-49-02: Adoption assistance eligibility criteria
- 5101:2-49-02.1: Title IV-E adoption assistance AFDC-relatedness eligibility criteria
- 5101:2-5-04: Recertification of an agency to perform specific functions
- 5101:2-5-13.1: Disaster preparedness plan requirements
- 5101:2-5-27: Termination of a foster home certificate
- 5101:2-5-29: Foster home records
- 5101:2-5-36: Additional requirements for an agency that acts as a representative of ODJFS in recommending treatment foster homes for certification
- 5101:2-5-37: Additional requirements for an agency that acts as a representative of ODJFS in recommending medically fragile foster homes for certification
- 5101:2-5-40: Preplacement and continuing training programs
- 5101:2-7-16: Additional requirements for a treatment foster caregiver and a treatment foster home
- 5101:2-33-80: Retained applicant fingerprint database information exchange (Rapback)
- 5101:2-42-66: Administrative procedures for comprehensive health care for children in placement
- 5101:2-42-66.1: Comprehensive health care for children in placement
- 5101:2-42-66.2: Documentation of comprehensive health care for children in placement