Way to go, Jasmine Hardy :)

Foster care was the top priority at Child Safety Summit
WFMJ, Aug. 22, 2012.

BOARDMAN, Ohio - While Attorney General Mike DeWine acknowledges the many good things happening within Ohio's foster care system, he says there are many other things that need improved upon, which is why he dedicated a statewide tour to the issue.

"A lot of good things are going on, but I still I think too many children languish in foster care for too long. Many of them don't have what every child should have and that is a permanent, loving home and parents," DeWine said.

At Akron Children's Hospital of the Mahoning Valley, lawmakers, agency representatives, foster families and foster children weighed in on ways to improve the current foster care system.

One of former foster child Jasmine Hardy's biggest frustrations growing up was the strict supervision rules that she felt prevented her and other foster children from having a normal childhood.

"The only time I really hung out with people I called my friends back in high school was during lunch time," Hardy said.

Experts say those strict guidelines, which sometimes limit who foster kids can hang out with it, are in place for liability reasons, but acknowledge it is an area agencies may need to revisit.

Just like the issue of when it's right to place a child back into its biological home. "So often we see that no matter what the trauma, so many kids still want to go home and that is just a natural thing. Who doesn't want to be loved by the person that brought them into the world," said Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick.

"They've abused the kids, then we turn around after a year and put the kids back in and we see them abused again so we have to be much more careful I think in this area," DeWine said.

Another suggestion is to extend the age in which children qualify for services, like independent living, to age 21.