Opinions: Foster care part of protection plan
Dayton Daily News, March 19, 2007, pg. A12.
Children in foster care lost a champion when Mike DeWine left the U.S. Senate after he was defeated for re-election last year.
Federal money makes up as much as half of what Ohio counties devote to protecting children (more in other states), and rules on how that money can be spent shape the destinies of tens of thousands of abused or neglected children.
Mr. DeWine, who now teaches at Miami University and Cedarville University, shrugs at the suggestion that he brought a special expertise to the issue. "It's not rocket science," he says, but a matter of getting the right resources — and enough resources — to the right people.
The idea is to offer intensive, sustained help to families in the hope of keeping kids out of foster care altogether or, failing that, to keep the children's stays brief. If there's no hope of keeping children with their birth families, they must be placed on the fastest possible track to adoption.
This work and attention can happen only if social workers aren't crushed by caseloads; if juvenile court judges are disciplined in how they resolve cases; and if resources are available not just to strangers willing to act as foster parents, but also to family members and potential adoptive parents.
Otherwise tragic breakdowns are inevitable — as this region experienced with the horrifying death of 3-year-old foster child Marcus Fiesel.
As Mr. DeWine was leaving office, another Dayton-area champion for at-risk children was being elevated. Helen Jones-Kelley, longtime director of Montgomery County Children Services, has the portfolio to give the state child protective system the attention it needs.
Ms. Jones-Kelley joined Gov. Ted Strickland's cabinet as head of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. She's a lawyer who got her start in the Montgomery County Juvenile Court. She served on a prestigious national commission on child welfare.
The new governor spent a lot of time in his State of the State speech last week talking about how Ohio must invest in things "that matter." He made clear that children — their health care and their educations — will be among his priorities.
Ms. Jones-Kelley now runs one of the biggest and busiest public agencies in Ohio. But right at the start, she should sit down with the governor and maybe invite former Sen. DeWine to come along. They could talk to Mr. Strickland about what can be done to improve the prospects of children in foster care, and they should review proposals recommended by county managers of Ohio's child-protection system.
Those officials want more money — about $20 million more — to do their work. They also need a hand raising funds from private foundations to help kids in foster care become better advocates for themselves and to ensure that they have a voice in court. County directors also are asking Ohio to lobby Congress (an institution Gov. Strickland knows something about) to make more low-income children eligible for foster-care support and to allow more flexible use of funds.
There's vigorous debate on how best to take care of children whose parents are failing them or who don't know how to be good caregivers. But everyone agrees that protecting children is an investment that matters.
Read the Public Children Services Association's "fact book" and recommendations for the child protection system at www.pcsao.org
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