43
DeWine proposes $74M increase for children services agencies
YOUNGSTOWN
An “unprecedented” state proposal would nearly double the annual state allocation for Mahoning County Children Services.
Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday recommended a $74 million annual increase for Family and Children Services in Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ upcoming biennium budget line – a 95 percent increase.
The proposal includes $90 million a year in funding, up from $60 million, for the State Child Protective Allocation, which funds children services agencies across the state.
“For too long our state has been last in the nation for state support of foster care,” DeWine is quoted in a news release. “As budgets are strained by an influx of children needing care because one or more of their parents has a substance use disorder, our foster care system is at a critical juncture. Ohio’s children deserve better.”
Mahoning County Children Services currently receives $1.4 million from the state, said spokeswoman Jennifer Kollar. If the General Assembly approves DeWine’s proposal, the county would get $1.1 million more, she said.
Ohio ranks last among the nine states in which children services are administered at the county level, said Randy Muth, county Children Services executive director. He said the increase will offset rising child out-of-home placement costs, provide “more suitable” placements for children in state custody and better fund programs for families struggling with addiction and mental illness.
“This proposed investment is very needed in Mahoning County,” Muth is quoted in a release. “The opioid addiction crisis has affected every agency department. We are experiencing increased reports of child abuse and neglect which has led to an increase of 53 percent more cases accepted for investigations and a 50 percent increase in child removals, resulting in over 223 children placed into foster care.”
Trumbull County Children Services is also reporting a 50 percent increase in temporary placements for children, according to a release from the agency. Nearly 2,000 grandparents are raising their grandchildren in the county, the release states.
“Ohio has long suffered from a lack of leadership, vision and resources in child welfare at the state level. This ended today with Gov. DeWine’s vision for Ohio,” said Angela Sausser, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, when introducing DeWine to an audience of county officials including Muth and his Trumbull counterpart Tim Schaffner.
The first such increase in “modern history” came during former Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration, but it was ultimately pulled back during the 2008 recession and wasn’t near what DeWine pledged Thursday, Muth said.
DeWine’s proposal also includes:
$25 million for programming to prevent parents from having to relinquish custody of developmentally disabled or mentally ill children for treatment.
$8.5 million to support relatives who have assumed custody of placed children.
$2.6 million to increase productivity and efficiency of case workers around the state struggling to meet mounting case loads, more than half of whom meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Trumbull County agency.
DeWine is expected to submit the state’s executive budget for the Legislature’s consideration next Friday. The next state fiscal year begins July 1.