A quick rundown of Ohio child protection news this week
Weekly Update for May 20, 2019
Association Updates

PCSAO updates reform plan, seeks additional endorsements
One year after releasing its Children’s Continuum of Care Reform , PCSAO has updated the plan. The goals and impact of the plan remain the same – to improve the children services system by preventing foster care placement, ensuring that children grow up in families, improving options for residential treatment, and sustaining permanency once children return home. Minor changes have been made based on feedback received over the past year, and more kinship recommendations and current data have been added. Check out the updated plan. We continue to seek endorsing organizations to add to the 18 national and state organizations that have already endorsed.

Children services panel testifies before Senate Finance subcommittee
On May 15, Angela Sausser, PCSAO Executive Director; John Fisher, Licking County JFS Director; and Jerica Estle-Grooms, a former foster youth from Adams County, presented testimony before a Senate human services subcommittee. The testimony focused on the severe crisis facing Ohio’s children services system and the need to maintain the children services investments as proposed by Governor DeWine and added to by the House.  Read more and link to photos .
 
2019 PCSAO conference updates
The deadline for the Conference Workshop submissions has been moved to May 31. Please submit all workshop proposals and supporting documentation to [email protected]. Download the. 2019 Call for Presenters. T he 2019 PCSAO awards will be presented at luncheon ceremonies during the conference. All nominations must be submitted by June 30. Download the  Youth and Family Awards Nomination Packe t  and the   Professionals Nomination Packet . All nominations must be e-mailed to [email protected] , and nominators will be notified of the outcome by the end of July (staff nominees remain secret until the conference).
 
Ohio START Steering Committee meets
The Ohio START Steering Committee met May 14 at PCSAO for its quarterly meeting. During the meeting, new additions to the steering committee were introduced, and representatives from Trumbull and Carroll counties attended, as well as a representative from United Healthcare Community Plan of Ohio. Committee members discussed program and budget updates, evaluation strategies, and training opportunities going forward. The next Steering Committee meeting is set for Aug. 13.
 
Delaware recognizes foster parents
Scott Britton was honored to speak at the May 15 Foster Care Recognition Banquet hosted by Delaware County JFS. County commissioners and the juvenile judge joined Director Bob Anderson, Deputy Director Sandy Honigford and children services staff as they served up dinner and gratitude to county foster caregivers. Families ranged from those who have been serving for more than a decade to those planning to take their first placement the next day. Britton thanked the caregivers for their service, provided updates on state and national reform efforts, and engaged the group in providing examples of their practice and their needs.

FFPSA Leadership Committee meets
The ODJFS Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) Leadership Committee met on May 16. Carla Carpenter, OFC Deputy Director and Chair of the Committee, shared federal and state updates pertaining to FFPSA. The Committee received a presentation on the FFPSA Kinship Navigator Program, approved the charter for the Kinship Navigator Subcommittee, and heard updates for the QRTP, Prevention Services, and Modeling Licensing Subcommittees. The FFPSA Leadership Committee will meet on June 20.

Permanency roundtables advance practice
In advance of inviting more counties to adopt Ohio's successful youth-centered permanency roundtables model, the PRT Advisory Council met May 17 to review survey results, improve the practice manual, develop new communications tools, and share updates. The council is made up of 10 counties actively employing the promising model to move longstaying foster youth to legal permanency. The council next meets Aug. 16.

Rules update
Rules in Pre-Clearance: Click here to review and comment on the following rules currently in pre-clearance:
  • Through May 30: Chapter 5101:2-5 Child Services Agency Licensing Rules; Chapter 5101:2-7 Foster Care; Chapter 5101:2-48 Adoption
Rules in Clearance: As of May 17, no children services-related rules were in Clearance.
 
Rules that have been filed with JCARR: The following rules have been final-filed with JCARR and will be effective July 1.
  • 5101:2-49-03: Special needs criteria for adoption assistance
  • 5101:2-49-04: Requirement for adoption assistance past age eighteen
  • 5101:2-49-06: Adoption assistance agreement and duration: provision for financial support and services
  • 5101:2-49-07: Adoption assistance agreement only with no payment
  • 5101:2-49-08: Adoption assistance payments
  • 5101:2-49-09: Title IV-E adoption assistance post-finalization application
  • 5101:2-49-09.1: Retroactive adoption assistance payment process
  • 5101:2-49-10: Determination of continuing eligibility requirements for adoption assistance
  • 5101:2-49-11: Suspension of Title IV-E adoption assistance (AA) payment
  • 5101:2-49-12: Modification/amendment of an adoption assistance agreement
  • 5101:2-49-13: Termination of adoption assistance
  • 5101:2-49-19: Title XIX medicaid coverage for Title IV-E adoption assistance eligible children (COBRA)
  • 5101:2-49-23: Adoption assistance intercounty and interstate case management responsibility
  • 5101:2-49-25: Qualified and disqualified alien eligibility for Title IV-E adoption assistance
Click on the rule number to go to the Register of Ohio website for details about the rule filing.
Announcements and Resources

Human trafficking webinar
The Ohio Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (ONCAC) has developed the ONtarget webinar series to enhance the MDT response for Ohio’s child survivors of human trafficking. Learn more and register: May 22, noon-1:30 p.m., Thorn: Trends in Technology Based Exploitation and Response ( Presenter: Kelbi Ervin, THORN ) and May 28, noon-1:30 p.m., Internet is Not Forever: Using Technology to Remove Child Abuse Images Online  ( Presenter: Lance Holmes and Kathryn Rifenbark, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ).

Ohio Family Care Association Conference
Join OFCA for its 43rd Annual Resource Family Conference June 7–8 at the Embassy Suites Hilton, Columbus Airport. The conference is attended by over 200 resource families and leaders in Ohio’s child welfare and juvenile justice agencies. The conference is designed to connect, educate and build meaningful collaborations between people who share similar experiences. Out of this two-day exchange of ideas, thoughts and information, partners will discover what they can do together that they cannot do alone. More information can be found in the conference brochure and you can register here .
Child Protection in the News

This month, the Ohio House of Representatives took Gov. Mike DeWine’s already children-friendly state budget and made it even friendlier.
 
There is a huge need for foster parents right here in Franklin County and Franklin County Children Services says the need isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
 
May 15 - Address root of opioid crisis - Toledo Blade 
As the trial over Big Pharma’s role in creating America’s opioid addiction catastrophe approaches, the question of where the settlement money should go has become more paramount.
 
But adults who provide kinship care don't get the financial help that licensed foster parents do. That's why the Assistance League of Greater Cincinnati created its Kinship Foster Care Program. It supplies socks, T-shirts, underwear, diapers and wipes to kinship caregivers through a partnership with the Comprehensive Health Evaluations for Cincinnati's Kids, or CHECK, Foster Care Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
 
The Buckeye Ranch, one of the Columbus area's oldest and largest mental-health treatment agencies for children and families, has a new president and CEO. Vickie Thompson-Sandy is replacing Nick Rees, who led the Grove City-based nonprofit organization for the past 10 years of its 58-year history, the board of directors announced on Tuesday.
 
Butler County is expecting to receive about $1.2 million more in state foster care funding if proposals by Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio House pass the biennial budget. The governor wants to pump an extra $30 million into the foster care budget, and the House has doubled that amount in its budget bill.
 
Cuyahoga County is facing a $33.5 million deficit in its Health and Human Services budget before its levy is up for renewal next year. The county is running out of money due in large part to the high numbers of children entering foster care as part of the ripple effect of the opioid crisis. The cost of foster care in Cuyahoga County is close to $5 million per month and growing, according to county officials at a Monday briefing.
 
A statewide effort to improve the care of innocent victims of Ohio's opioid epidemic is showing positive results. The Ohio Perinatal Quality Collaborative is aiming for better birth outcomes and fewer preterm births - Ohio's leading cause of infant mortality.
 
House Republican and Democratic leaders joined together on Monday to roll out a handful of new priority bills, including House Bill 8 by Galonski and Rep. Susan Manchester, R-Lakeview, designed to get foster parents trained and licensed more efficiently.
With May recognized as National Foster Care Month, Marion County Commissioners signed a proclamation Thursday morning in a bid to raise awareness for the need for more foster parents in the county.   
 
Allen County Children Services honored those special people at their annual appreciation banquet Thursday evening.
Upcoming Events

May 20 | Legislative Committee Meeting
May 23 | New Execs Orientation
May 24 | New Execs Orieintation

Employment Opportunities

Looking for a career in child protection? Or a new position to challenge yourself? Check out the latest job openings in child protection .

UPP graduates seeking employment at a PCSA are listed on our website.
Quote of the Week

" Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy."
-Saadi 
Public Children Services Association of Ohio | 614-224-5802 | www.pcsao.org
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