Ohio moves to protect foster children
Advisory group hopes legislators endorse recommendations to improve foster care system
In the wake of a series of
sweeping recommendations for overhauling Ohio’s foster care system,
State Sen. Peggy Lehner called the reforms “an idea whose time has
come.”
Tristina
Allen, 18, wishes more of these proposed changes had been in place
during the five years she was in foster care in Toledo. Even small
injustices can loom large in the life of a child, such as the current
requirement for a background check when a child wants to do something as
mundane as having a sleepover or riding to the mall with friends.
“It was horrible,” recalled Allen, now a freshman at Wright State University. “Imagine telling your friends, ‘I can come over to your house as long as your parents get a background check.’”
Alex McFarland, now a graduating senior at Miami University, endured a similar experience. “I never got to attend my high school prom. While the issue seems unimportant, this was a big deal for me. All my friends have nice photos and made memorable experiences. It just led to me coming up with another excuse and another hole to fill in my past.”
In an attempt to make childhood more normal for foster children, the advisory group said that Ohio should change its state statute to limit children services agencies’ liability when children participate in normal activities. Allen thinks that’s a great idea: “It’s already awkward enough to be in foster care, and all these rules make it super awkward.” She is attending WSU as part of the Independent Scholars program, which provides educational support for former foster children.
Normalizing childhood is just one of many goals of the Foster Care Advisory Group, which released its recommendations last week. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine convened the 31-member group last fall and charged them with finding solutions to problems identified at seven Child Welfare summits conducted across the state in 2012.
DeWine convened the summits after two high-profile deaths in 2011: 2-year-old DeMarcus Jackson of Cincinnati and 14-year-old Makayla Norman of Dayton, a cerebral palsy patient who weighed 28 pounds at the time of her death. Makayla’s doctor, Margaret Edwards, 51, of Trotwood pleaded no contest to three misdemeanors Friday, becoming the last of five people to be convicted of crimes in connection with her starvation.
Providing opportunities
Some proposals seem daunting, such as eliminating the gross inequities in funding among Ohio’s 88 counties. DeWine lamented the three-to-one discrepancy that can exist between one county and the next in child welfare spending. “That’s a monumental difference,” DeWine said. “All kids who live in Ohio should have the same opportunities, and we have to figure this out.”
That disparity translates into huge gaps in the amount of time it takes for a child to become adopted. In counties with child services levies, the average wait to be adopted is one year, in comparison with seven years in counties without levies. “Someone needs to stand in the gap and say, ‘This is important,’” said Marynell Townsend, executive director of the Ohio Family Care Association Board, who served on the advisory group.
The advisory group recommended the creation of a Shared Child Welfare Incentive Fund, which would reward local communities to raise additional funds for child welfare by creating a statewide fund to match local commitments. “That’s probably tougher than the other parts,” said Lehner, R-Kettering. “Any time you’re trying to raise money it’s more problematic.”
DeWine said the report’s recommendations are achievable: “Nothing is pie in sky. It’s not wishful thinking. All of it is within reach.”
Many of the proposed changes would cost no money, but would require only a tweaking in the language of the law — provisions giving foster children and foster parents greater voice in court. “I was really glad to see that fosters parents will be made more of a part of the decision-making process, because they know these children,” Lehner said.
Townsend believes that legislation would pass easily because of the broad-based, bipartisan nature of the advisory group. “There was a lot of compromise and consensus- building,” Townsend said. “The attorney general brought everyone to the table, so I am hopeful there will be a lot of support.”
Lehner is already drafting legislation for an omnibus bill, incorporating a half-dozen initiatives, she hopes to introduce in the fall. “I have no doubt this will result in some action,” she said.
Legislative action will be aimed at what is known as Planned Permanent Living Arrangements, where agencies are not required to make efforts to reunify the child, but the child is also not eligible for adoption. The PPLA is supposed to be used only in extreme cases, such as a severely disabled child, but DeWine and other experts believe it has been too widely used.
“There are judges who feel strongly that to sever the parental rights is like a death sentence, and they’re reluctant to do that,” Townsend said. “The result is that the child is not available for adoption and there’s no continuing followup. There’s a very good chance they’re going to age out of the system without having a permanent family.”
‘She inspires me’
Jennifer Konrath, a 17-year-old junior at Alter High School, believes it is too hard to sever parental ties. She has lived with her aunt, Susan Elias, since she was 8 years old, but hasn’t been adopted because her father wouldn’t relinquish custody, so she’s still in foster care under the protection of Cook County, Illinois, while living in Dayton. “I am lucky because I have an aunt who spoils me, who is like my mother, who gives me the same love as my mother,” she said. “They give biological parents too many rights, even when it’s not in the kids’ best interests. Everything was about my dad’s best interests.”
Another significant issue identified in the report is the effectiveness of the court-appointed guardian ad litems, who are supposed to look out for the child’s legal interests. The advisory group recommended tighter monitoring of guardian ad litems as well as strengthening the volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, program to ensure that children have effective representation. DeWine announced he is awarding $2 million to the CASA program to fund the expansion of services across the state. “Guardian ad litems not doing their jobs is a big issue,” Lehner said. “We hear all the time that we haven’t seen him or her in a while.”
DeWine also awarded $1 million to Ohio Reach, which connects persons who have aged out of foster care to higher education opportunities. McFarland is thrilled with that decision. “As a soon to be college graduate nothing upsets me more than when I hear other youth acting as if college is out of the question for them,” he said. “I know youth from around the state. These kids are smart, driven and resilient.”
Simone Polk, assistant vice president for student
services at Wright State University, is higher education chair for Ohio
REACH. “I am so honored that the attorney general chose our program,”
she said.
It should benefit students, such as Tristina Allen, an international studies major who is expanding horizons that once looked so bleak. “She is such a rising star,” Polk said. “She inspires me every day.”
Her opinion is being echoed by the true experts: Ohio’s foster children.
“It was horrible,” recalled Allen, now a freshman at Wright State University. “Imagine telling your friends, ‘I can come over to your house as long as your parents get a background check.’”
Alex McFarland, now a graduating senior at Miami University, endured a similar experience. “I never got to attend my high school prom. While the issue seems unimportant, this was a big deal for me. All my friends have nice photos and made memorable experiences. It just led to me coming up with another excuse and another hole to fill in my past.”
In an attempt to make childhood more normal for foster children, the advisory group said that Ohio should change its state statute to limit children services agencies’ liability when children participate in normal activities. Allen thinks that’s a great idea: “It’s already awkward enough to be in foster care, and all these rules make it super awkward.” She is attending WSU as part of the Independent Scholars program, which provides educational support for former foster children.
Normalizing childhood is just one of many goals of the Foster Care Advisory Group, which released its recommendations last week. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine convened the 31-member group last fall and charged them with finding solutions to problems identified at seven Child Welfare summits conducted across the state in 2012.
DeWine convened the summits after two high-profile deaths in 2011: 2-year-old DeMarcus Jackson of Cincinnati and 14-year-old Makayla Norman of Dayton, a cerebral palsy patient who weighed 28 pounds at the time of her death. Makayla’s doctor, Margaret Edwards, 51, of Trotwood pleaded no contest to three misdemeanors Friday, becoming the last of five people to be convicted of crimes in connection with her starvation.
Providing opportunities
Some proposals seem daunting, such as eliminating the gross inequities in funding among Ohio’s 88 counties. DeWine lamented the three-to-one discrepancy that can exist between one county and the next in child welfare spending. “That’s a monumental difference,” DeWine said. “All kids who live in Ohio should have the same opportunities, and we have to figure this out.”
That disparity translates into huge gaps in the amount of time it takes for a child to become adopted. In counties with child services levies, the average wait to be adopted is one year, in comparison with seven years in counties without levies. “Someone needs to stand in the gap and say, ‘This is important,’” said Marynell Townsend, executive director of the Ohio Family Care Association Board, who served on the advisory group.
The advisory group recommended the creation of a Shared Child Welfare Incentive Fund, which would reward local communities to raise additional funds for child welfare by creating a statewide fund to match local commitments. “That’s probably tougher than the other parts,” said Lehner, R-Kettering. “Any time you’re trying to raise money it’s more problematic.”
DeWine said the report’s recommendations are achievable: “Nothing is pie in sky. It’s not wishful thinking. All of it is within reach.”
Many of the proposed changes would cost no money, but would require only a tweaking in the language of the law — provisions giving foster children and foster parents greater voice in court. “I was really glad to see that fosters parents will be made more of a part of the decision-making process, because they know these children,” Lehner said.
Townsend believes that legislation would pass easily because of the broad-based, bipartisan nature of the advisory group. “There was a lot of compromise and consensus- building,” Townsend said. “The attorney general brought everyone to the table, so I am hopeful there will be a lot of support.”
Lehner is already drafting legislation for an omnibus bill, incorporating a half-dozen initiatives, she hopes to introduce in the fall. “I have no doubt this will result in some action,” she said.
Legislative action will be aimed at what is known as Planned Permanent Living Arrangements, where agencies are not required to make efforts to reunify the child, but the child is also not eligible for adoption. The PPLA is supposed to be used only in extreme cases, such as a severely disabled child, but DeWine and other experts believe it has been too widely used.
“There are judges who feel strongly that to sever the parental rights is like a death sentence, and they’re reluctant to do that,” Townsend said. “The result is that the child is not available for adoption and there’s no continuing followup. There’s a very good chance they’re going to age out of the system without having a permanent family.”
‘She inspires me’
Jennifer Konrath, a 17-year-old junior at Alter High School, believes it is too hard to sever parental ties. She has lived with her aunt, Susan Elias, since she was 8 years old, but hasn’t been adopted because her father wouldn’t relinquish custody, so she’s still in foster care under the protection of Cook County, Illinois, while living in Dayton. “I am lucky because I have an aunt who spoils me, who is like my mother, who gives me the same love as my mother,” she said. “They give biological parents too many rights, even when it’s not in the kids’ best interests. Everything was about my dad’s best interests.”
Another significant issue identified in the report is the effectiveness of the court-appointed guardian ad litems, who are supposed to look out for the child’s legal interests. The advisory group recommended tighter monitoring of guardian ad litems as well as strengthening the volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, program to ensure that children have effective representation. DeWine announced he is awarding $2 million to the CASA program to fund the expansion of services across the state. “Guardian ad litems not doing their jobs is a big issue,” Lehner said. “We hear all the time that we haven’t seen him or her in a while.”
DeWine also awarded $1 million to Ohio Reach, which connects persons who have aged out of foster care to higher education opportunities. McFarland is thrilled with that decision. “As a soon to be college graduate nothing upsets me more than when I hear other youth acting as if college is out of the question for them,” he said. “I know youth from around the state. These kids are smart, driven and resilient.”
It should benefit students, such as Tristina Allen, an international studies major who is expanding horizons that once looked so bleak. “She is such a rising star,” Polk said. “She inspires me every day.”
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