Marion County, Ohio Children Services
ATTENTION:
The November 16, 2018 regular meeting of the Marion County Children Services Board has been rescheduled. The meeting will occur on November 30, 2018 at noon at Marion County Children Services.
MARION, OH (March 2018) –
Marion Community,
The life of 1 out of every 9 children in our community was touched by Marion County Children Services in 2017. We responded to 844 concerns of child maltreatment last year and experienced record numbers of children in foster and kinship care. A major contributor to the increased need for our services over the past five years is Ohio’s opioid epidemic and the effects on Marion County’s SILENT VICTIMS – THE CHILDREN.
The primary reason children were removed from their homes was parental substance abuse. Placing these children with kin, while a top priority, is complicated by the fact that opioid use can become a multi-generational family addiction. Consequently, we must often turn to foster care. Many of these children are quite young. 82% of children in foster care are under the age of twelve; 55% are ages 5 and younger.
Statistically, parents who are addicted to opioids are likely to relapse – some multiple times during their recovery process – thus their children remain in care longer. If parents cannot demonstrate sobriety, or if they fall victim to a fatal overdose, then children come into the permanent custody of our agency. Not surprisingly, the number of children adopted through our agency (11) in 2017 increased 38% since 2013.
Children who enter the custody of Marion County Children Services because of their parents’ substance use are demonstrating more complex needs due to the trauma experienced in their home. For babies born drug-exposed, many require more intensive levels of care to address their withdrawal symptoms. For children who have witnessed horrific drug-related scenes such as their parents overdosing, many of them require higher levels of care to address their adverse experiences and stabilize their behaviors.
Maintaining more children in custody and addressing the trauma they experienced is increasingly expensive. Marion County Children Services spent $701,198 in total foster care placement costs in 2013; by 2017, costs had more than doubled to $1.56 million. In 2017, 44% of our expenditures were paid with local funding; 45% with federal funding; and 11% with state dollars.
Protecting children from abuse and neglect while stabilizing families remains one of the most challenging jobs in social services. Our ability to meet the increased demand in services would not be possible without the community’s long-standing history of support to child protection. Please take a moment to review our 2017 Community Report. Do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or presentation requests.
Respectfully,
Jacqueline Ringer, MPA/LSW
Executive Director
The December 15, 2017 regular meeting of the Marion County Children Services Board has been canceled. The next meeting will occur on January 19, 2018 at noon at Marion County Children Services.
Click here to learn more about the Board, their work, and upcoming meetings.
Its 1:30 in the morning and the phone rings. Marion Police Department. A female victim in the home has overdosed, unresponsive to emergency treatment. The officer says there are three unattended children under the age of 5 in the home and in need of immediate care. It’s hard to imagine this call, but it is a reality for child protection workers. Over the recent years, the opiate epidemic has ravaged Marion County and is leaving families broken, and vulnerable children in its wake. Sometimes, the voices that you do not hear, are the ones most in need of help. These voices, the silent victims, are the ones left unheard, but are severely impacted by this opiate epidemic.
What used to be sporadic occurrences of responding to drug raids or overdoses where children were present has now become common practice. Marion County Children Services provided services in 2016 to 1 out of every 8 children in the county. As of September of 2016, 86% of our court involved cases involved drug related concerns. Our caseworkers are now first-responders to opioid-related concerns which are complex and require intensive case management. Marion is not alone in this struggle. Ohio has been ranked #1 in the nation for the number of heroin deaths and #1 for synthetic drug overdoses.
Parental substance abuse remains the primary reason for children to be removed from their homes and placed in foster care in Marion. In the past 5 years, Marion County alone experienced a 56% increase in the number of children unable to be safe in their own homes requiring foster care. In 2016, the median number of days in temporary custody has increased from 121 days in 2010, to 331 days in 2016. Over 50% of the children in foster care are 0 – 5 years of age. With the increase in the number of children requiring safety, we simply do not have enough foster homes to fill the need requiring to place the children outside of their community. In January of 2017, Marion County Children Services had 38 foster homes available to care for 67 children.
Experience and training has proven that children placed with family or friends reduces stress considerably that results from being removed from their family. We rely greatly on family members of the children. We have increased our placements with family or friends over 100% since 2010. However, appreciation alone does not assist our family members willing to take in these children. They face significant challenges taking on additional children at a minutes notice and a lack of available assistance to help with these situations.
With a drastic rise in need for our services, Ohio’s child protection system has received no new state dollars to address this epidemic. In fact, the system experienced a 21% reduction in state funding specific to local children services agencies in 2008, and have not received any further funding since 2010. Our placement costs have increased 98% in the past three years. Ohio continues to be 50th in the nation for state money that is given to children services agencies. If Ohio would double the money it gives to its local child protection agencies, Ohio would still rank 50th.
Child protection workers, who are responsible for protecting abused and neglected children are overwhelmed with the rising number and complexity of cases. We are averaging 24% caseworker turnover in the past 3 years. Staff are leaving child protection for less stressful, and better paying jobs. Without new resources, they cannot meet the demands they are facing.
We are incredibly fortunate to provide child protection services in Marion, Ohio; a community with a long standing history of supporting our efforts through a local levy tax. Over 40% of our operating funds are generated by a 2.12 mill levy based off of 1989 property values. This alone, however, is unable to keep up with the needs of the community and the children of Marion County. Child protection agencies in Ohio need help to provide essential services to our vulnerable children-the silent victims of the opiate crisis. Now is the time to invest in our future by supporting and protecting our children.
Marion County Children Services has named four employees of the year for 2016.
Those recognized include Francis Hernandez, supervisory staff; Mandy Davis and Ellen Thrush, caseworkers; and Dempsey Slone, support services.
Marion County Children Services’ mission is to lead the community in the protection of children by working with families to promote, develop, and maintain safe and permanent homes. According to the agency, “Our employees of the year exemplify the goals and outcomes we wish to achieve.”
The reasons for their recognition include:
Francis Hernandez- Placement Supervisor. “Only a supervisor for a short time, she took the reins and ran with them. She is the model of leadership and strives to make the employees that work for her better on a daily basis. She knows how to get work done.”
Ellen Thrush- Intake Caseworker. “Ellen came in a little over a year ago, hit the ground running, and hasn’t stopped since. She is all that you would want in a worker who has years of experience, but always willing to learn. She is compassionate with her families, and always wants to see them succeed, and is there to support them through the process.”
Mandy Davis- Intake Caseworker. ” Mandy is everything you could ask for in a seasoned worker. She is always willing to help new staff learn the “ropes” and go above and beyond what is asked of her. Her strong connections with law enforcement have helped streamline a lot of processes that occur between the agencies.”
Dempsey Slone- Maintenance. “Dempsey is not only the nicest guy you will ever meet, he is the glue that holds Children Services together. From fixing things we break without a second thought, to coming in early to ensure all the walkways are free of snow and safe for us to walk on, without Dempsey, it would be impossible for the casework staff to complete their jobs.”
