Money an obstacle to foster care improvements

Calls for foster-care reform not new
But cost is an obstacle
McGurk, Margaret. Cincinnati Enquirer.

Public outrage about the death of Marcus Fiesel is not the first time the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services and the General Assembly has faced calls for reform.

In 2003, then-Ohio auditor Jim Petro issued recommendations to tighten oversight of foster families and the private agencies that often deal with them for public authorities.

While several Petro suggestions were adopted - most involving stricter business standards for the private agencies - Jobs and Family Services passed on others.

The reason most often cited involved costs.

For instance, Petro urged that the state take over licensing of foster homes, a process now commonly left to the private agencies.

Petro's report said that presents a conflict of interest because the agencies can benefit financially from every home they certify.

Department Director Barbara Riley said that job would require hiring many more state workers. "It is a topic of considerable fiscal impact."

After an earlier performance audit in 2000, she said, the department asked lawmakers for money to expand the staff, but the plan died. "It never saw the light of day," she said.

"Personally, I believe we need to examine that whole licensing and monitoring function and make some strong recommendations."

She said the same limits on money and staff made it impossible to fully enact other recommendations in the Petro report, including universal reviews of all foster parent applications and personal visits by state inspectors to every foster home.

Ohio's tradition of local control of human services, Riley said, explains why the department did not adopt other recommendations, such as setting minimum requirements for temporary-care providers and taking over investigation of complaints. Both functions are governed by the contracts between counties and private agencies, she said.

Tom Hayes, who headed the department at the time of the Petro report, said that under state law the department's chief role is as an intermediary in dispensing federal foster care assistance to the counties.