Press Release from Ohio Attorney General's Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 23, 2012

MEDIA CONTACTS: Dan Tierney: 614-466-3840 Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840

Attorney General DeWine Announces Homeless Youth and Aged-Out Victim of Crime Grants (COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today announced two youth service organizations will be sharing nearly $430,000 in grant funding to help the young homeless population. The Next Step program of Portage and Geauga counties and the Lighthouse Youth Services group in Cincinnati were selected to receive the grant money to support their efforts in helping homeless 18 to 24 year-olds who often have trouble receiving assistance and are disproportionately victims of crime. "This funding will particularly impact the lives of those who have 'aged-out' of the foster care system," said Attorney General DeWine.  "Not all foster kids have a place to go when they turn 18." The Attorney General saw the need to help foster children after several of his Ohio Child Safety Summits this year revealed that the lack of services for former foster children in some areas can increase their likelihood of becoming homeless and/or crime victims. "This grant money now will help the Next Step and Lighthouse Youth Services programs better provide for youth who need assistance," said DeWine.  "These kids don't have to live on the streets and wonder every day where they'll be getting their next meal." • The Next Step:  In the last year, more than 30 young adults transitioned out of foster care in Geauga and Portage counties.  These neighboring counties are primarily rural and have limited public transportation systems and transitional housing programs.  The new Next Step program will fill that gap with an outreach program that will include victim advocacy, shelter, crisis support, and mental health care services.  Grant funding given to the Next Step program will be used over the next two years to provide for two victim advocates and various necessities. • Lighthouse Youth Services:  This Cincinnati-based organization has been working with homeless youth for nearly 45 years.  Its Youth Crisis Center is the only runaway and homeless shelter for 10 to 18 year-olds in the city and supports 100 clients at any given time.  Grant funding given to Lighthouse Youth Services will be used for its new Lighthouse on Highland facility which provides a day program, resource center, and a 28-bed shelter for homeless youth 19 to 24 years-old.  The funding is provided by the State Victims Assistance Act grant program.

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.

TAGyc on NewsNet5

Teens give a voice to those in foster care in hopes of making the system more effective
Harris, Danitra. NewsNet5, April 12, 2012

CLEVELAND - "We've got to fight that fight and it's not going to stop. Foster care is inevitable."

Those are powerful words coming from a young man who is familiar with life in the foster care system. His mother was in the system and subsequently, so was he.

His name is Daniel Taylor. He is a part of a group that fights for the rights of those in foster care. They empower them to speak up about their experiences.

Who are they?

Teens and young adults who are or have been in the foster care system. The teen advocate group, known as TAG, meets twice a month to plan and coordinate efforts that address the changing need of teens in care and those aging out. It has become a personal mission for Taylor.

"I kind of look at it as being the Harriet Tubman for the foster kids," Taylor said. "It's a process. It's a long process and a lot of times you might feel alone. You know there's a light but you don't know where to look for it. And since  I've been through the light I want to help more people go to that light."

One of those people is his friend Demetrius McGee. He says TAG helped him to mature.

"With me, I was never the type of person to reach out a lot of times. I always had the positive mindset but always kept close to myself. Now I'm able to branch out. I'm able to have some networking with a lot of people. I've met a lot of new individuals and I've opened up a lot more," McGee said.

TAG coordinator Jamiese Myers has been with the agency for 10 years. She has seen the faces. She knows their stories. So I asked the question. "Is there a fear of aging out of the system?"

Myers didn't hesitate to say "Yes." She said because of the fear the group works hard to come up with programs to prepare the youth for life after foster care. For example, they have Independent Living workshops where they discuss how to open a checking account, balance a checkbook, find resources for housing and apply for college.

What is shared in the meetings is genuine. Lifelong connections are formed and the foundation is simple, give a voice to teens in foster care and make a difference.

TAG has traveled to Columbus to attend a conference on ways to prevent homelessness amongst youth aging out of care. Two of its members participated in a video that will be used to train attorneys, judges and other court officials on how to better prepare youth in foster care for their court hearings.

For more information on TAG, click here: www.cfs.cuyahogacounty.us

2012 Connecting the Dots Conference - on the Cover of the Columbus Dispatch

Grown foster kids drive state help 

Forum aims to tackle long-standing problems 

Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 4, 2012.

Daniel Curry, left, helps Arthur Miller III, 22, of Dayton, pick out a suit for job interviews at the Connecting the Dots conference. Photograph taken by Kyle Robertson, Columbus Dispatch.

He left the conference with two new suits, which will come in handy now that he’s in demand as a public speaker. Marcus Henry is 18, soon to begin his senior year in high school and very good at telling people what it’s like to come of age in foster care.

 Want to get your driver’s license? Forget it, because the state of Ohio is your parent and doesn’t want the liability. Hope to keep playing your sport after being transferred to a new foster home and school? Rules designed to prevent athletic recruiting might quash your eligibility.

Hauling all your belongings in trash bags? Henry and others think that’s an unfair embarrassment. They’re starting a drive to provide decent luggage for foster youths.

“When I first came into care, if you worked for children services, I hated you,” said Henry, who lives with foster parents in the Toledo area. “I switched that to, ‘What is bad about foster care, and how can I change it?’  ”

Michael Colbert, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said current and former foster youths — not social workers and government officials — were the force behind yesterday’s Connecting the Dots conference in Columbus. 

More than 200 teens and young adults who are about to age out of foster care, or already have, signed up for workshops to get help with jobs, college plans, and health and legal issues. The conference is part of a larger state initiative called “Connecting the Dots from Foster Care to Employment and Independent Living.”

“This was the brainchild of the youth,” Colbert said. “Who are we to dictate everything that happens in foster care when we’ve never been in foster care?” 

About 1,000 to 1,300 Ohio youths leave the foster system each year without a permanent family, and many experience homelessness. Advocates say Colbert has put renewed focus on the youths’ futures.

“He gets our kids,” said Doris Edelmann, adult facilitator for the Ohio Youth Advisory Board. “And he listens.” Of five wish-list actions sent to the state by the youth board this year, three have been met and two are in the works, officials said.

Job and Family Services sponsored the conference, provided support for a new Ohio Youth Advisory Board website — www.ohioyab.org — and maintained a $2 million independent-living fund that had been cut from a previous state budget. The youth board also asked for two regional coordinators to help with independent living and transitional services for foster youths, as well as a housing task force to study the problem of housing for youths aging out of care. Colbert’s office said applications are being reviewed for the coordinators, who then will help with the housing task force.

“Housing is the biggest piece, and that task force has not yet been established,” said Lisa Dickson of the Foster Care Alumni of America Ohio chapter. “Our young people age out of foster care to homelessness. We need action.”

Dickson, one of the conference organizers, said the aim was to keep all activities and offerings relevant. Many kids lack business attire for job interviews and work, she said, so the Ohio State Bar Foundation and other organizations donated nearly 1,300 items for the foster-care youths to choose from yesterday in the Suits for Success room.

Henry found two that fit nicely, and he figures the speaking engagements will keep coming. “We’ve already changed some things,” he said. “We’re making a difference.”

Hooray for HEMI

For Former Foster Children, Mentors Make the Difference
University of Cincinnati Leans on Federal, Private Support to Lead Ohio's First Academic Assistance Program for Foster Youth 

Press Release, June 7, 2012

CINCINNATI-- Mariah Maxwell has seen too much in her 20 years -- starting from the moment when, at age 10, she witnessed her mother hitting her older sister in the face with a two-by-four. The youngest child of six was placed immediately in foster care through the Hamilton County Department of Jobs and Family Services (JFS). 

"I bounced around a lot after that," Mariah says; in fact, over the next eight years, Mariah went to four different high schools before graduating from Walnut Hills High School in 2010. Her often unstable living situation didn't break her stride, however. She was determined to graduate high school and move on to the University of Cincinnati to study criminal justice and psychology. 

"I want to understand why criminals do what they do. I go back to the experience with my mother and wonder what was clouding her judgment in that moment she hit my sister," Mariah notes. 

The odds were stacked against her. Three years ago, a mere 45 out of 150 students in the Hamilton County foster care program graduated from high school, and only three went on to higher education. And the low graduation rate was just one obstacle facing foster care youth nationally; according to a 2004 Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care report: 

•   25 percent are incarcerated within the first two years;

•   20 percent become homeless;

•   Foster youth have disproportionately high rates of early pregnancy, are more prone to sexual and physical victimization, mental illness and substance abuse.

Overcoming the Odds

Mariah and the approximately 850 foster children in Hamilton County JFS care could face any number of these scenarios. But that was before the Higher Education Mentoring Initiative (HEMI) was launched -- and drastically changed the opportunities available to young adult foster children.

HEMI's goal is simple: prepare foster children for post-secondary education. A core program of the University of Cincinnati's Partners for Achieving School Success (PASS), it is also a partnership among Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann, Hamilton County JFS, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, and Great Oaks Vocational School.

The initiative recruits, trains and supports a network of adult mentors to establish long-term, positive relationships with foster care youth. It is the first program of its kind in Ohio, and has become a state- and nation-wide model for mentoring foster youth pursuing higher education.

"Every child has a right to education, but not every child has the same opportunity," explains Annie Schellinger, HEMI program coordinator. "Foster care children, in particular, face a daunting set of challenges to obtaining higher education." 

While there are some financial options available -- such as Federal Pell grants, Educational Training Vouchers and scholarships -- Annie notes that financial assistance isn't the only resource foster children need to move on to college. "There isn't a system in place to tell a student, 'It's time to take the ACT. Here's how to apply for on-campus housing or scholarships. This is how to be successful in college.'" 

The HEMI program works to combat such obstacles. During their junior year in high school, foster youth are invited by Hamilton County JFS case workers to participate in HEMI. Those who are interested are matched with a volunteer, adult mentor who has been specially trained by HEMI administrators, and has made a six-year commitment to the HEMI program. 

UC, too, makes a commitment to the students. It costs the university approximately $16,000 per student, per year to provide the level of mentoring, guidance and resources required to successfully graduate each foster child from high school. Stephanie Cappel, director of development for the PASS program, says several initial donations to the program through the university's billion-dollar Proudly Cincinnati fundraising campaign helped the program get its start. 

"Even with continued support of HCJFS through federal Chaffe funds, corporate and private donors have made all the difference for HEMI's ability to remain afloat over the last three years," says Cappel, citing supporters like Procter & Gamble, which committed an initial $20,000 to HEMI through KnowledgeWorks and the Strive Partnership. "We've done all we can to stretch initial donations, but we desperately need to replenish them to meet this region's increasing need." 

Starting to See Results

So far, 48 students have participated in HEMI, and all have graduated from high school and enrolled in post-secondary education. Compare those rates to national statistics from a Casey Foundation Study, which found only 13 percent of foster care youth enroll in higher education. 

Mariah is one of the HEMI graduates who chose to attend UC, partially to the credit of her mentor, Kate, who introduced her to campus life during Mariah's senior year in high school. 

"She helped me with tons of applications, helped me figure out how to pay for my books, schedule my classes and get acclimated to the campus," recalls Mariah. She also filled another, perhaps greater role: friend. "We talk at least twice a week. She's like having a really close friend." 

Mariah has flourished at UC, where she maintains a strong GPA -- she's made the dean's list four out of her six quarters at UC, and already qualifies as a college junior -- while working 20 hours per week. But that's not to say her path has been without pitfalls. 

"We can help them graduate from high school and become part of the UC family, but then we need to help them assimilate to college life," says Annie. "Foster children have had social workers since childhood, but there's no one to help them in adulthood." 

Taking HEMI to the Next Level

Founded in June 2011 by a grant from the Social Innovation Fund, the UC Degrees program expands upon HEMI by supporting the needs of current or former foster youth who are enrolled at UC. Like HEMI, UC Degrees is another first: the university is the first in Ohio to dedicate a full-time staff position to supporting on-campus former foster youth. 

Meghann McCabe is the program specialist who oversees UC Degrees. Although the program received some initial financial support from the Social Innovation Fund grant, UC Degrees -- like HEMI -- is still significantly under-funded. Meghann acknowledges the needs of former foster youth often require she go above and beyond her job description. She's babysat, navigated financial aid and, in Mariah's case, helped negotiate the often tricky world of off-campus housing by serving as a reference to eliminate the need for a co-signer on an apartment lease. 

"But," she explains, "it is worth it. The commitment to these students is so great because their needs are so great." 

 

In addition to struggling against a tight budget, Meghann acknowledges there are other challenges as well. Qualifying students can be identified through the information they provided on their FAFSA forms, but students often only reach out to the UC Degrees office in times of crisis. 

Bringing it Full Circle

To help formulate a more proactive strategy for attracting program participants, Meghann has turned frequently to Jeremy Collier, a senior at UC who was himself a foster child. A ward of the foster care system from age 10, Jeremy emancipated at age 18 after living in three foster homes. Forced to move back in with his biological father, a drug addict, Jeremy knew college was where he would find his place. 

"I always wanted to go to college," Jeremy says, noting, "I knew when I was in high school that I wanted to help other foster youth, because of my situation." 

Still, the road wasn't easy. He transferred to UC from a private college at the start of his sophomore year, after a portion of his scholarship funding was cut. He was living out of his car when his girlfriend's family -- having learned of his circumstances -- took him in. 

Having a stable living situation lessened the strain of going to school and working up to 50 hours per week to fund his education. "It's the best thing that could've ever happened," Jeremy says. 

As a result, Jeremy will graduate this spring with a degree in business finance, and an invitation to join the National Adoption Coalition for a foster youth internship this summer in Washington, D.C. He is also using his personal experiences to help design programs on UC's campus, basing many of his recommendations on the successes and road blocks he encountered along the way. 

"When you're just becoming independent, you want to feel independent. You don't want to have to go to someone for help, which you were forced to take when you were in foster care," Jeremy explains. "It's hard to know what support you need. But there are a few basics." 

Those "basics" include assistance with complicated paperwork -- like stable housing. Emancipated youths don't have a home to go to during spring, summer and winter breaks, and the cost to stay on campus can be prohibitive. 

"This is a need we've identified and are working very hard to meet," notes Meghann, who is basing recommendations to UC's housing department on both Mariah and Jeremy's feedback. "But change doesn't happen overnight." 

Changing Lives Against the Odds

Although challenges still face the HEMI and UC Degrees programs, and the students that participate in them, one thing is very certain: the work UC is doing through these two programs is changing lives for both current and former foster youths, providing access to opportunities they might not have had otherwise. 

Mariah uses herself as an example. "I really hadn't considered college before joining HEMI," she says. "But Kate really helped change my mind. If it wasn't for the HEMI program, I wouldn't be in college." 

Adds Jeremy of the UC Degrees program, "Having support in any way is life-saving. You have to be willing to ask for help, and some foster youths are afraid to ask. Now it's one of my goals to establish this community of former foster kids, so when they're finally able to ask for help, it's there for them."

About the University of Cincinnati 

Ranked by the National Science Foundation among the top 25 public research universities in the United States, the University of Cincinnati is the region's largest employer, with a diverse student population of more than 42,000. UC's faculty has distinguished themselves worldwide for their creative teaching and research, including members of the National Academy of Science, Institute of Medicine and winners of Tony, Grammy and Pulitzer Prizes. The University's 14 Colleges set the foundation for a university dedicated to undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, experience-based learning, and research. U.S. News & World Report has described UC as one of 15 "up and coming" universities and Forbes Magazine named UC one of the world's most beautiful campuses. 

About the University of Cincinnati Foundation

The University of Cincinnati Foundation is leading Proudly Cincinnati: Tower of Strength, Rock of Truth, the University's most ambitious campaign in history, supporting the vision for UC to be the finest public research university in the United States. Proudly Cincinnati's goal is to raise $1 billion by 2013. To date, more than $903 million has been raised for scholarships, innovative teaching and groundbreaking research. For more information about the Proudly Cincinnati campaign, visit www.uc.edu/foundation . 

About the Partner for Achieving School Success (PASS)

Partner for Achieving School Success (PASS), a center in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services at the University of Cincinnati, provides university-community partnerships and outreach programs that promote and enhance positive educational outcomes for economically disadvantaged students. 

SOURCE: University of Cincinnati Foundation

Another reason to be grateful to Director Colbert and the Dave Thomas Foundation

New adoption partnership helps find homes for kids in foster care.

Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, May 17, 2012.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is forming a partnership with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to help find permanent homes for children in foster care.

Department director Michael Colbert said the agency will spend $2.3 million to hire special recruiters whose sole mission is to find adoptive families for older children in foster care.

The announcement came today during the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Summit, an annual conference that draws adoption professionals from throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“We are thrilled that Ohio is taking the lead on this important program,” Rita Soronen, president and CEO of the Dublin-based foundation, said in a release.

“We know this program works and are looking forward to joining forces with the state of Ohio to bring it to scale.”

The foundation will train and oversee the recruiters, who are to follow the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids child-focused recruitment model.

Last October, the foundation released results from a five-year study that showed that children served by program recruiters are up to three times more likely to be adopted.

Ohio has nearly 12,000 children in foster care. Recruiters initially will work in selected Ohio counties where at least 20 children between the ages of 9 and 17 are available for adoption.

More than 1,000 Ohio children in that age group have been in foster care longer than two years, officials said.

NBC4 Interview with Dauntea Sledge

Watch this at WCMH

HOMELESS PROGRAMS: State grants will help homeless, former foster youth
Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, May 12, 2012.

It’s not big money in the scheme of things, the attorney general said, but it’s significant help for a problem that rarely gets attention, let alone a financial boost.

The Older Youth Victim of Crime Initiative will focus especially on teens and young adults who have aged out of the foster-care system, leaving them disproportionately affected by crime, poverty and homelessness.

“If children have aged out of the foster-care system, chances are they’ve been left largely to fend for themselves with no clear path forward,” DeWine said during his Two Days in May crime-victims conference at the Hyatt Regency.

“They may have been — or at risk of becoming — victims of violence, sexual abuse, neglect, street crime and even human trafficking.”

Alex McFarland knows. This 22-year-old bounced around a foster-care system that placed him with a series of relatives and others from age 13 until he was discharged as an adult.

“I’ve always had to ask, ‘Where will I be next?’  ’’ said McFarland, who grew up in Montgomery County. “I’ve been in safe places, but never anywhere that I could call home.”

He’s now in college and a member of the Ohio Youth Advisory Board, a group that advocates and makes policy recommendations for foster youth. McFarland attended DeWine’s program and said he was happy to hear the attorney general say he wants to take a shot at making a difference.

“I’m pretty excited about that,” McFarland said.

Little state and federal support is available for the roughly 1,400 Ohio youths who age out of foster care each year with no permanent home. And among homeless youths who weren’t in foster care, the adult shelter systems are usually a poor fit for their needs.

Doris Edelmann, adult facilitator for the Ohio Youth Advisory Board, said advocates also feel that they have the ear of Michael Colbert, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

“We have people who are listening,” Edelmann said. “Now, what do we do to create a model, or a bridge for these kids?”

DeWine said grant applications are due by June 8. Homeless young people served in the pilot efforts don’t necessarily have to be crime victims or former foster youth, but the projects must be able to assist those who are. He said the services could include court advocacy, safety planning and temporary shelter, among other things. The attorney general has been focusing on foster care during his Child Safety Summits across the state, with roundtable discussions on the child-welfare system. Too many languish in the system, only to exit and suffer more, he said.

“As the parent of eight and the grandparent of 17, I know that nothing is more important than this,” DeWine said. “Nothing matters more.”

Franklin County Children Services is privatizing

County proposing all-private foster care

75% of cases already run through private agencies

Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, March 9, 2012

Franklin County Children Services is halting new placements of children in county-licensed foster homes because officials want to shift all remaining foster-care services to private agencies.

The move, if approved by the board of trustees, would effectively disband the internal foster-care system and fully privatize care.

About 260 foster parents received the news in a letter this month. Executive Director Chip Spinning met with many of them on Wednesday and is to host another meeting tonight to discuss the plan.

“We know that this seems like a huge change for our agency, but the fact is that 75 percent of our current foster-care services are purchased from community provider agencies while only 25 p ercent are provided internally by FCCS foster families,” Spinning wrote in the letter.

He said the change will allow the agency to put more resources and staff toward its work with birth parents and relatives who are caregivers. That direct social work is the agency’s “core mission,” he said.

“It’s to make the best use of our resources,” spokeswoman Deborrha Armstrong said. “We want to help reduce placements.”

County foster parents who want to continue caring for children would have to transfer their licenses to a private agency, but the children in their care would not have to move, according to agency information distributed during the meeting.

Many foster parents, however, think it’s important for the agency to maintain some degree of licensure and oversight of foster care. Outside agencies don’t have the same accountability, they said.

“This is a pretty serious issue not to discuss with foster parents or at a board meeting,” said one parent. “It impacts the future of children. Some of these are for-profit agencies, and that’s a big difference.”

The foster parent still hopes to adopt through the county and didn’t want to be identified for fear of retaliation. Many county-licensed foster parents are dual-licensed to foster and adopt.

They generally care for children with the least-intensive needs, and the foster parent said some question whether private agencies would be more likely to mix those children and others with more severe problems.

Armstrong said that won’t be the case. She also said that, though the plan hasn’t been discussed publicly, Spinning has shared information with board members. “It will be officially recommended at the March meeting,” Armstrong said. “He’s going to bring the concerns to the board.”

The move toward privatization of foster care isn’t new. Half or more of all such care in Ohio — and many other states — is provided by private agencies. Armstrong said Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, now contracts out all of its foster care.

Children Services last made a significant shift in foster care in 2007, when the agency discontinued its licensing of foster homes for medically fragile children.

Overall, foster placements have declined significantly in recent years as the agency focuses more on prevention and in-home services.

Thank you, Connie Schultz, for recognizing this....

Connie Schultz: Teens in foster care deserve a Christmas, too

Schultz, Connie. Sun Journal, Dec 18, 2011.

Remember how hard it was to be a teenager? All that angst and self-doubt, surrounded by family who didn't understand you.

Now try to imagine what it's like to be that teenager in foster care, at Christmas.

Jen Burrows is 28 now, but every December triggers her teenage memories of foster child Christmases.

"You want to feel special, but if you're in foster care, you already know you aren't," she told me in a phone interview from her home in West Salem, Ohio. "Every Christmas, I'd go into my bedroom and just cry."

Jen's parents abandoned her when she was 18 months old. She and her sister, who is a year older, were raised by an abusive aunt and uncle for 12 years. When Jen was 14, she was placed in foster care. She spent most of the next four years with one foster family. She is quick to point out that for all her feelings of loss and sadness, she was "one of the lucky ones" at Christmas.

"When I was in the system, I'd go to the holiday party at Jobs and Family Services," she said. "Santa was there passing out gifts, and each teenager got one. I can't even remember what mine was. Most of the gifts were meant for little kids. What I do remember is looking around and thinking, 'I am so grateful for my foster parents, who use their own money to give me a Christmas.' Any gifts from foster parents come out of their own pockets, which means a lot of kids like me got nothing at all."

This month, tens of thousands of teenagers in foster care across America and in your town have no idea whether anyone will remember them at Christmas. In the Cleveland area alone — where I live — nearly 800 teens are living in foster care. The Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services is trying to raise awareness through its Giving Tree program so that well-meaning donors — individual and corporate — will contribute to these older children in need.

It's easy to buy gifts for little ones, department social workers told me. Lots of inexpensive and fun choices.

It's more challenging to convince donors that teenagers need surprises, too. Good surprises, the kind that makes them feel special and helps them fit in. Most teens love gift cards, for example, for the chance to buy things they want rather than need.

"A lot of our kids don't have iPhones and tablets and designer clothes," Kimberly Mitchell said. "They don't have the things other kids have."

Her colleague Ericka Cabil cautioned against judging the children for wanting something other than basic necessities.

"When you're a foster child, you're already coming from a background that makes you feel different from everybody else," Cabil said. "You don't want it to show on the outside, too. A nice hairdo, nice clothes — they can hide signs of neglect on the inside."

Jen Burrows knows firsthand the public shame of foster care and the tenacity of its internal wounds.

"Kids can be cruel. I was ridiculed at school for wearing used shoes that were too big or had holes in them and coats that my aunt's kids wore in the '70s and '80s. Every kid is trying to fit in. Every kid wants to wear what everyone else is wearing."

She is hard on her younger self.

"I still blame myself," she said. "If I had spoken up sooner, I could have saved my sister and me from abuse." She shrugs reminders that she was a child and that it was the teachers who saw the bruises but did nothing.

"It was hard for them to intervene," she said.

Ten years have passed since Jen aged out of foster care. She is happily married now and working in a job she loves as a full-time hairdresser in Ashland, Ohio. Her life, she said, has changed in wonderful ways.

"I'm so happy. I'm so lucky," she said. "But I know there are still thousands of teens in foster care whose lives are no different from what mine was at Christmas."

She will do her part.

Jen is encouraging all of her clients to contribute to gifts for teens in foster care. She also is donating several haircuts, and one girl will get highlights for free, too.

"You have to make them feel special," she said. "We all need a little glitter time."

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and an essayist for Parade magazine.

Ohio Attorney General hires former foster youth to head up Children's Initiatives

DeWine tries to transcend politics with foster care

Hershey, William. Dayton Daily News, Dec. 17, 2011.

COLUMBUS — In Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office, there’s a 1997 photo of DeWine holding his daughter Anna, who was 5 at the time, at a White House bill-signing ceremony with President Bill Clinton.

The bill, sponsored by DeWine, then a U.S. senator, made clear that the best interests of a child must be No. 1 when deciding whether to leave a child in foster care or reunite a family.

It’s the kind of photo that fuels the fires of the Cedarville Republican’s critics.

They maintain that DeWine always has been too willing to work with Democrats such as Clinton.

To turn that 1997 bill into a law, DeWine even joined forces with the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, not just a Democrat, but the liberals’ liberal.

For DeWine the photo is testimony to what can be accomplished working together on issues that should transcend politics. Protecting children in foster care is a prime example.

“This is not a partisan issue,” DeWine said. “This is about kids and giving kids who’ve had a tough time, giving them some opportunity.”

Anna is 19 now, in college, but her dad is still at it.

He’s using the AG’s office as a bully pulpit to make sure that Ohio does all it can to protect the nearly 12,000 children in foster care.

DeWine has called for a broad review of the foster care system and kicked off the effort with a summit earlier this month in Cincinnati.

He plans similar summits around the state, including in the Dayton area, about every six weeks with representatives from foster care agencies, law enforcement, prosecutors, advocacy groups and anybody else who’s interested.

The impetus for the campaign was 2-year-old DeMarcus Jackson of Cincinnati. Jackson’s father is charged with murder by beating the youngster to death after he was returned to his birth parents from foster care.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters investigated and determined that county Job and Family Services workers followed the law in returning the boy. Even though the child’s health and safety is paramount, the law also calls for reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families.

“There was nothing in the detailed notes and progress reports that could have predicted such violent behavior by the father,” Deters said in a prepared statement.

DeWine didn’t dispute Deters’ conclusion and said that his effort isn’t aimed at blaming anyone, especially child welfare workers who DeWine said are overworked and underpaid.

In addition to concerns about children’s safety, DeWine worries that efforts to reunite families can keep a foster child from being adopted. The percentage of children aging out in foster care in Ohio by turning 18 is above the national average, he said.

“I don’t pretend to have all the answers,” DeWine said.

To help find them, DeWine hired someone with first-hand experience, attorney Melinda Sykes, as director of children’s initiatives. Sykes was removed from an abusive home at 13, placed in foster care and adopted by her foster mother when she was nearly 18.

Sykes said that there is more emphasis now than before 1997 on making the safety of the foster child a top priority. Still, situations vary, by county and social worker, she added.

“I think it’s always timely to shine the light on foster children and abuse and neglect issues,” Sykes said.

Foster care thanks NCJW

Foster care thanks NCJW

Cleveland Jewish News, Dec. 7, 2011.

Over 1,000 Ohio youth "age out" of the foster care system every year, without being connected with a forever family. For these young people, holidays can be a harsh reminder of lost connections. Foster Care Alumni of America's Ohio chapter works with our partners to host Thanksgiving dinners for foster care teens and young adults each year.

We are grateful to the National Council of Jewish Women, Cleveland Section for their role in supporting the second annual Northeast Ohio Thanksgiving event for current and former foster youth.

This event captures the heart of what Thanksgiving is about; reminding those who have experienced foster care that they always have a seat at our table. 

We want our young people to know that their voices, talents, insights and mutual encouragement are what lay at the heart of this celebration. 

It is our privilege to stay in contact with them, as they enter into young adulthood and find their places in this world, moving beyond the shadows of their past to build bright futures and families of their own.

Zelma Brown, Lisa Dickson
Foster Care Alumni of America, Ohio chapter

Number of Homeless Children in Ohio Increases

Report: Ohio, nation see rise in homeless children

Heagney, Meredith. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 13, 2011

According to a new report from the National Center on Family Homelessness, more than 1.6 million American children or 1 in 45 are homeless, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

The number of homeless children in Ohio and across the United States is on the rise.

Over the course of a year, more than 1.6 million American children — or 1 in 45 kids — are homeless, according to a report released this morning by the National Center on Family Homelessness.

That number rose 38 percent from 2007 to 2010.

The Massachusetts-based advocacy group ranked all 50 states from best (1) to worst (50) when it comes to child homelessness.

Overall, Ohio ranks 25th, according to the report.

Ohio had 32,953 homeless children in 2010. That number rose steadily each year since 2006, the first year included in the report, when Ohio was ranked No. 20.

Homeless children suffer from hunger, poor physical and mental health, and they have limited proficiency in math and reading, according to the report.

The organization also grades each state on its planning efforts to help these children; Ohio’s efforts were graded “moderate,” a step below “extensive,” the highest mark for planning.

You can read the entire report or see how Ohio fared.

Health and Safety of Ohio's Foster Children

Attorney General DeWine Hosts Summit to Focus on Health and Safety of Foster Children
News Release, 12/9/2011

(CINCINNATI)—Attorney General Mike DeWine today called for a complete review of the foster care system in Ohio. DeWine’s call for action was made at a Child Safety Summit he hosted in Cincinnati.

“I convened this child safety summit today, the first of many I intend to hold across Ohio, because we need to conduct a comprehensive, holistic review of the entire foster care system in this state,” said Attorney General DeWine. “Too many of these children are languishing in foster care with no real hope of ever having a permanent loving home.”

About 40 representatives from foster care agencies, law enforcement, advocacy groups, prosecutors' offices, and adoption agencies attended the summit, including Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, Rita Soronen of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and Moira Weir, director of the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services.

The Summit discussed several issues facing the foster care system, including recent deaths of foster children after being reunified with relatives. According to data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, 33 children died (not necessarily from abuse or neglect) after being in foster care and being reunified with their biological parents from 2005-2010. Hamilton County has had three deaths of foster children reunified with their biological parents in 2010. In the U.S. Senate, DeWine authored language in the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act clarifying laws that in issues of family reunification, the best interests of the child always have to come first.

However, DeWine noted today that his call for review is not limited to family reunification.

“There are children in the Ohio child welfare system who are dying, but there are also children dying who have been abused and neglected who have never been in foster care,” said Attorney General DeWine. “There are also children in foster care who spend their entire lives in the system, never being adopted into a safe and loving home.”

Many of Ohio's foster care children end up "aging out of foster care," DeWine noted. The percentage of children aging out in Ohio is greater than the national average of 11 percent in 2010. In 2009, Ohio emancipated 1,453 foster children, which represented 15 percent of the foster care population.

DeWine also noted the alarming amount of psychiatric medications apparently being prescribed to foster children. A recently released federal Government Accountability Office report said foster children can be prescribed these drugs at doses higher than the maximum levels approved by the FDA, and many foster children received five or more psychiatric drugs at the same time.

Additional regional child safety summits will follow today's in Cincinnati.

First of many Ohio Attorney General Roundtables on Child Safety

Ohio AG Wants Foster Care System Reviewed
DeWine Expresses Concern Over Deaths Of Children Returned To Parents
WLWT, December 9, 2011

COLUMBUS -- Ohio's attorney general wants a comprehensive review of the state's foster care system, taking a hard look at child safety and high numbers remaining in foster care until they "age out."

Mike DeWine led a child safety summit Friday in Cincinnati, where 2-year-old Demarcus Jackson was beaten to death last month after being returned to his birth parents from foster care.

DeWine said he wants to be sure the child's best interests always come first in family reunification cases.

"There are children in the Ohio child welfare system who are dying, but there are also children dying who have been abused and neglected who have never been in foster care," DeWine said.

He also expressed concern about the number of children "languishing" in the system. He said children in foster care in Ohio stay in the system until they reach the age limit of 18 at higher rates than in other states.

Two years ago, 1,453 Ohio foster children, or 15 percent of the state's foster care population, left the system because they had reached 18. The national average is 11 percent.

Representatives of social agencies, law enforcement, advocacy groups and adoption agencies took part in Friday's event, DeWine's office said. DeWine plans more regional meetings around the state on child safety.

A spokesman for a group that advocates for foster parents welcomed DeWine's effort to seek reforms.

"It's long overdue," said Bob Cunningham, of Ohio Voice for Foster Parents. "I would be interested to see what recommendations would come out of it."

He said some children remain in foster care until reaching adult age because it's not safe to reunify them with their natural parents.

"There are some that just can't be in the home because of the environment - the dad's on drugs, the mom's on drugs, alcohol; there's abuse and neglect," Cunningham said.

The Fredericktown resident said sometimes caseworkers take action without allowing enough input from foster parents who know the children best, and he said he also supports uniform, professional standards for foster parents to weed out problems among caregivers.

DeWine also wants a study of prescription medications given to foster children in Ohio. A recent federal report found that foster children in some states are getting psychotropic drugs at high rates and high dosages

Central Ohio Worst for Poverty among 16 Metro Areas

Study: A ‘wake-up call’ on poverty

Central Ohio is worst among 16 metro areas

Ferenchik, Mark. Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 30, 2011.

The Columbus metropolitan area has the highest poverty rate among 16 areas measured in a new report of community benchmarks.

Central Ohio also has a lower average household income than most of the areas, according to the report written by Community Research Partners with funding from the Columbus Foundation and the Columbus Partnership. Benchmarking Central Ohio 2011 will be released at noon today during a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum.

Not everything is bad. The metropolitan area has a relatively low violent-crime rate (No. 5), a relatively high rate of volunteering (No. 4) and the third-shortest commute time by car, and it was first in the number of nonprofit community celebrations per million people.

The benchmark report looks at population changes, economic strengths and weaknesses, income levels, health and safety, and other measures.

Researchers used American Community Survey census data from 2009 and other sources to compare the eight-county Columbus metropolitan area to 15 others: Cleveland; Cincinnati; Chicago; Kansas City, Mo.; Indianapolis; Milwaukee; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Louisville, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; Austin, Texas; Charlotte, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Raleigh, N.C.; Portland, Ore.; and San Diego.

Some of the metro areas were chosen because they are similar to central Ohio, said Roberta Garber of Community Research Partners. Others are doing things the Columbus area aspires to. Still others are considered economic competitors.

It’s the fourth such report by the group, which last released one in 2009.

Garber said Columbus has traits in common with communities in the South and West such as the Raleigh-Cary and Austin-Round Rock metro areas. Those similarities include a moderately growing population, a relatively low unemployment rate — the third-lowest, as of March 2011, among the 16 metro areas — and a younger group of residents, with a median age of 34.7.

But the Columbus metropolitan area, which comprises Franklin, Delaware, Fairfield, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union counties, also mirrors older industrial cities with high poverty and obesity rates as well as difficulty establishing small businesses.

“The growth here is masking some of the underlying problems,” Garber said.

Bill LaFayette, owner of the economic-consulting group Regionomics and a member of the project’s advisory group, said: “If you look at the poverty rate over time, we’re consistently at the bottom of the group,” meaning the rate is higher than in the benchmark metro areas.

Kridler said some people in central Ohio have a hard time believing the poverty rate is so high.

“There are cities where there are more-striking individual signs of poverty, more concentration," he said. “Ours tends to be widespread, growing outside the urban core, that there are more working families in poverty.”

Kridler said focusing on increasing the average wage “would be an incredible help to this community.”

Garber said leaders here need to focus on improving adult education and retraining for working-class residents so they can find better, higher-paying jobs.

Among the metropolitan areas studied, Columbus also has the highest percentage of children — 8.5 percent — living in families where neither parent works. That compares to the Raleigh area’s 3.6 percent, the lowest on the list.

Article about 2011 Central OH FCAA Thanksgiving Event

ROTC helps families have Thanksgiving 

Sattler, Angela. Chimes, Dec. 4, 2011

Visualize not having a family to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, no one to go home to and no one to spend the holiday with. Thousands of youth in Columbus and around Ohio will be facing that very circumstance next week.

However, members of ROTC will join Campus Ministries, Student Government and President Bowman to sponsor a Thanksgiving event at Capital to help make a difference. Formally titled the Central Ohio Foster Care Alumni of America (FCAA) Thanksgiving Event at Capital University, the meal will take place Nov. 20.

FCAA is a national organization made up of former foster youth and allies. According to Lisa Dickson, Communications Chair of the Ohio chapter of FCAA, this organization exists to connect individuals who have experienced foster care personally, and to transform child welfare policy and practice.

Bethany Koshinsky, a member of ROTC, organized many details for the event, such as obtaining funding and organizing a space to host the event,

“There is a lot of planning that’s going into making this event possible. This year I tried to set a goal of getting more organizations on campus involved. After all, I believe this is an event that truly affects our whole campus,” Koshinsky said.

Geoffrey Maney, another member of ROTC, has also contributed largely to the Thanksgiving event.

“This event is a great outreach for the children in the foster care system,” Maney said, “Many people don’t realize what it is like to grow up in a home that is not yours, raised by parents who are not biologically yours. It is an opportunity for the children to be brought together and form a community bond. I believe this event makes all the difference in the world to some of the foster kids.”

The Thanksgiving event will take place on Sunday, Nov. 20 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. in the Main Dining Room. Students and organizations are encouraged to volunteer during the event; however, the food will be served to foster youth first due to the set budget.

For youth attending the event, this meal may be the only Thanksgiving dinner they have this year.

The central purpose is “to bring our community together to provide a family for those who don’t have one,” Koshinsky said. “I hope we have made them feel like they have a family and community that completely supports them.”

Seven OH Counties Merge Family Services

7 Ohio counties merge family services offices
Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 6, 2011.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Faced with the problem of what to do about an increasing workload amid state funding cuts, seven Ohio counties have decided to merge the offices of their Job and Family Services departments in an effort to more efficiently handle more cases with limited means.

The collaboration, which begins next month, includes Delaware, Knox, Wood, Hancock, Marion, Morrow and Sandusky counties, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

The ill-named Collabor8 was originally to include Seneca County, which will now wait until after the project gets under way to decide whether to join.

Cases will be handled much like a production line with each employee performing a specific task instead of one worker seeing a case all the way through, interim director in Delaware County Angela Thomas tells the newspaper.

Overwhelmed by rising caseloads, the counties hope they can improve efficiency by 30 percent. The counties estimate that they will have a combined average of 2,500 new applications per month for food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance, in addition to 3,600 renewals.

Whether the collaboration improves efficiency will be determined by call and hold times and quality-control analysis performed by Bowling Green State University. Only two counties - Wood and Know - would begin collaborating in December, with the other five joining on Jan. 6.

"We're trying to function as one large county," said David Wigent, director of the Wood County office where the idea took shape.

Currently, it takes up to three weeks for an applicant to make an appointment and wait for a caseworker to process the application. Brenda Newell, public-assistance supervisor in Delaware County, says the new system will allow the offices to complete applications nearly instantaneously over the phone.

Wigent acknowledged that a multicounty phone-based operation could seem less personal, but he said the priority is to get people served.

Other counties are also looking at consolidation to boost efficiency.


Vinton, Hocking and Ross counties plan to merge their Job and Family Services departments with a board of representatives from each county overseeing the new combined department.

"Any time counties can share resources and collaborate to bring down administrative costs, we are absolutely supportive," Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesman Ben Johnson told the newspaper.

Northeast Ohio foster-care alumni reunite for holiday meal at Cleveland church

Northeast Ohio foster-care alumni reunite for holiday meal at Cleveland church
Ewinger, James. Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 20, 2011.

LaTasha C. Watts, right, shares a hug Saturday with Zelma Brown during the annual Foster Care Alumni of America Thanksgiving meal reunion at the Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Dozens who grew up without family ties forged new ones Saturday at the annual Thanksgiving event for foster-care alumni from around the region.

The Northeast Ohio celebration was at Antioch Baptist Church, while two others were planned for Southwest and Central Ohio -- all under the umbrella of the Ohio Chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America.

It was a family-style Thanksgiving dinner for a really big family: roughly 90, most of whom had been in foster care before reaching adulthood and the rest, aged 16 and 17, still in foster homes.

For some, they renewed old acquaintances or made new ones. For others, they shared experiences. After the meal, there was an open mike session where they could sing, recite poetry or just talk about their experiences and the people who meant the most to them.

Lisa Dickson, founder of the Foster Care Alumni of America Ohio chapter and a founding member of the national organization, said the get-togethers have been going on since 2007.

The first one took place with Thanksgiving dinner on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, she said, to support the Fostering Connections to Success Act which passed the following year.

Betsie Norris, founder and executive director of Adoption Network Cleveland, explained the transition to adulthood for young men and women in permanent foster care can be difficult.

The youths in permanent custody have been taken from their parents by the courts. They are eligible for adoption into new families, Norris said, but the older they get, the less likely they are to get adopted, which leads to aging out of foster care.

Many will have been in numerous foster homes by then, often separated from birth siblings and permanently severed from parents. The process deprives many of them of the stabilizing influences of a permanent family.

Adoption Network Cleveland does not place children in adoptive homes, but brings together the resources to help them as well as helping them find their birth families when they reach adulthood.

ANC joined with the Village Network, a private foster-care planning agency, Foster Care Alumni, Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services and the National Council of Jewish Women for Saturday's event.

Norris said that in 2004 there were 1,700 in permanent foster care in this county. The state-funded Adopt Ohio program helped cut that to 570, she said, but the number is at 680 this year and continues to creep up since the state cut off funds for the program in 2009.

Jurlee Thomas, 63, of Lorain had one of the most dramatic stories to relate Saturday.

"My mother was a foster child," she said, and so was she, as were her own six children. Today Thomas has eight grandchildren and six great-grand kids, all with their birth families.

Thomas said she remains in touch with four of her children and Adoption Network is helping her to find the other two. Meanwhile, she volunteers with ANC and the county "whenever I can."

"Being a foster child does not define who you are," Thomas said. "Your goals and aspirations define you. Foster care is just your house."

But the people who can best help foster youths transition into adulthood are others who have come out of the system.

"One foster child helping another," she said.

Terrell Howard, 18, was in foster care for 11 years -- with 13 different families. Today, he is studying criminal justice at a career college in Independence.

Joe Jackson of Children and Family Services said Howard testified before the Ohio legislature earlier this year, one of many who successfully argued against further child-welfare fund cuts.

"When he said he was going to college, he got a standing ovation," Jackson said.

The Thanksgiving feast, everything from cranberry sauce to turkey and ham, was dished up by a body of volunteer servers, who included Cuyahoga County Juvenile Judge Kristin Sweeney and County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell.

Thousands of Ohio Children Waiting for a Home

Thousands of Ohio Children Waiting for a Home
Public News Services-OH, Nov. 15, 2011.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Lawmakers, clergy members, young adults and community leaders are gathering in Columbus today as part of National Adoption Awareness Month to draw attention to the number of children without a permanent home.

Nearly 3,000 children in Ohio are waiting to be adopted, and each year more than 1,000 teens age out of foster care. Rita Soronen, president and chief executive officer of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, says it's a rough road for those children who leave the system without a family.

"They're much more likely to be homeless, undereducated, underemployed. They may fall back into government systems, criminal-justice systems. It's not because they're bad kids, it's because they don't have those support systems around them."

Adoption can give foster children the foundation they need to become successful in the future, says James Griffie, vice president of Leaders of Tomorrow. He says he knows first-hand that most children just want a good, stable home.

"People don't really know the struggles of what kids go through in care. I got adopted at the age of 16, and it was a blessing to me to be with a family that loved me."


Every child is adoptable, Soronen says, no matter what their age, cultural background or challenges.

"These are children with the wishes and hopes and dreams of every other child, and we see success across Ohio every day with particularly older youth being brought into families and really becoming thriving and loved individuals."

Each child deserves a chance to make a permanent family connection, Soronen says, and she's encouraging Ohioans to step forward and consider foster-care adoption. Additionally, during today's Third Annual Adoption Advocacy Day, attendees will urge Ohio leaders and policymakers to renew their commitment to a stable investment in adoption.