Changes will require adequate funding

Foster care change coming
State representatives to meet in response to reportBy RAE WILSONStaff writer

COLUMBUS - State Senator Tom Niehaus and House Representative Jeff Wagner are currently looking to work on Senate Bill 238 and House Bill 529, which deal with changes in how Ohio will monitor foster care agencies.

Since Marcus Fiesel, 3, died in foster care, representatives have worked on legislation that they hope will make it harder for a child to be harmed while in foster care. Niehaus and Wagner are planning a meeting to be held Wednesday, Dec. 6, in Columbus.

According to Niehaus, the purpose of the meeting is two-fold. First-to determine if any immediate legislative action will be taken, and second-to outline a process to begin working on recommendations for inclusions in legislation to be introduced in the 127th General Assembly. Senate Bill 238, proposed by the House Health Committee, and The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, is known as the "Child Welfare Update Bill."

The bill requires that prospective adoptive parents complete specific training as part of the home study, prior to a child being placed in the home. The bill has three provisions, first-to reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, second-to implement a statewide automated child welfare information system, and third-to clean up outdated language.

House Bill 529 requires a prospective adoptive parent or foster care giver to complete a form stating whether a person with whom the person previously resided or currently resides has ever been the subject of any of several actions regarding the safety and health of a child.

The meeting was planned in response to a 34-page report provided by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on Nov. 27, which criticized the organization Lifeway For Youth and made recommendations for changes in foster care.

Lifeway oversaw the Fiesel case and made several mistakes according to the report, like allowing foster parents Liz and David Carroll to remain foster parents without checking the one improperly provided reference. Lifeway also violated other rules such as not visiting as frequently as required and using a clinical treatment team supervisor who lacked the professional license required.

Currently the state licenses around 10,000 foster homes and about half of children in foster care are placed in private agencies. Lifeway may not be able to remain in operation in Ohio, and is currently seeking recertification and should finish the process by the end of January 2007.

Highlights of the report that will be studied include:
• Amend state law to require some annual background checks for foster care givers to include local law enforcement agencies.
• Amend state law to require a minimum of three face-to-face interviews in the applicants' home by the agency recommending prospective foster parents and complete individual interviews with each member of the household before certifying the foster parents.
• Increase training for foster parents.
• Require agencies to have monthly visits with the child and care giver in the foster home.
• Have the agency conduct unannounced visits with the care giver at least once every six months within the home or residential setting.

Changes made in the way that the state handles foster care will most likely cost money, and many are looking to the new governor to support new programs.

"We will be extending a special invitation to Governor- elect Ted Strickland's staff inasmuch as they will be forming their policy initiatives as we begin this process," said Niehaus in a letter to participants of the HB529/SB238 process.