Foster kids rising: Teens honored for overcoming the odds
- Two Stark County teens, both former foster children, have been recognized as “Rising Stars” by the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. Eighteen-year-olds Allissa Mitchell and Dayree Stokes were among four recently emancipated teens in the state to receive the honor.
Posted Nov. 21, 2015 at 9:00 AM
Updated Nov 21, 2015 at 9:26 PM
Two Stark County teens, both former foster children, have been recognized as “Rising Stars” by the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.
Eighteen-year-olds Allissa Mitchell and Dayree Stokes were among four recently emancipated teens in the state to receive the honor. They were lauded for overcoming adversity to put themselves in position to be successful adults, despite the fact foster children are at greater risk for such problems as homelessness and incarceration.
“That was a really good day,” Mitchell said, recalling the awards luncheon in Columbus.
Mitchell entered foster care at age 16. She spent a year in one foster home and a year in a second. She graduated this year from Massillon Washington High, where she played drums for the concert and marching bands and sang in the choir. Today, she lives in an apartment with her brother and a friend. Along the way, she was among a group to testify on Capitol Hill about a proposed federal supportive housing program for former foster children similar to Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing.
“Allissa is a hard worker ... she has a lot of goals,” said Julie Willis, an independent-living specialist who works with children 14 and older for the Stark County Department of Job & Family Services.
Mitchell has landed a job at Adolescent Behavioral Health in Canton, where she works with children who have suffered emotional and physical abuse. In fact, she already has received one promotion.
“They actually recruited her from a camp we had,” Willis said.
Mitchell hasn’t seen her mother in two years.
“It’s sad, really ... I love my mom,” she said. “But I had to get myself out of the self-pity.”
As a member of the Stark County Youth Advisory Board, and president of a similar state board, Mitchell has stumped for improved foster-child benefits. And she keeps a close eye on Ohio House Bill 50 and the pending Ohio Senate Bill 240 that would extend benefits to foster children through age 21.
The Ohio Fostering Connections initiative has been in the works for more than six years. The goal is to tap into federal funds available through the Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 to help defray the additional costs; 26 other states have, or will implement, similar programs.
“I know a lot of people who are couch-surfing,” Mitchell said, referring to friends with no permanent home.
Mitchell and Stokes are among the 3,000 Ohioans who came through foster care and now are between the ages of 18 and 21. Some children who leave foster care at age 18 have nowhere to go.
That’s not to say they receive no benefits. They are eligible for a medical card until age 26, and can qualify for more than $10,000 a year in college tuition grants. However, not every county in Ohio handles emancipated children, and their benefits, in exactly the same manner.
“There are 88 different ways to do things,” Willis said.
Stokes, the other local teen honored by PCSAO, was placed, along with her own infant daughter, in a foster home a year ago. Faced with the potential of losing her child, Stokes landed a job at a restaurant and found housing.
She plans to attend Stark State College to study culinary arts, with hopes of one day owning her own restaurant.
Friday, November 27, 2015
Way to go, Allissa Mitchell -- OHIO YAB President
Southeast Ohio's First-ever Regional Thanksgiving Reunion for Current and Former Foster Youth
OU hosts first Thanksgiving lunch for foster care students
Hofacker, Catherine, Ohio University, Nov 21, 2015.
It is the season of giving and the Ohio Reach Scholars Program is giving back to the community.
On Nov. 15, The Office of Multicultural Student Access and Retention in partnership with the Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America and other agencies hosted a Thanksgiving lunch in Jefferson Hall for Southeast Ohio foster care children and their families. (ACTION Ohio was the primary facilitating organization, and Athens County CASA, Foster Parent Organization, and JFS helped a great deal)
The early Thanksgiving dinner for current and former foster youth is a statewide event, but this is the first year one has been hosted in Southeast Ohio. The 1 to 4 p.m. lunch was an opportunity to introduce high school foster care students to a college environment and integrate them into the Ohio University family.
“These events are important because they raise awareness in the community about children in foster care,” said Michael Outrich, a senior geographic information systems major. “It allows the Ohio Reach Scholars and Ohio University to reach out and serve the community. It also offers a glimpse into what higher education is to those who are in foster care by showing them the resources and support available to them if they choose to attend college at Ohio University.”
In the past, OMSAR has coordinated alternative programming for the Ohio Reach Scholars during family-themed weekends. Jacob Okumu, program coordinator for student outreach and development services, said the Scholars now want to help plan an event for others.
“They’re already asking, what can we do to help, to reach out to other people?” Okumu said. “You (OMSAR) are creating an opportunity for us to now acknowledge that we have gifts and talents and that we can actually give back.”
Marlene De La Cruz-Guzman, director of OMSAR, said the Ohio Reach Scholars can play an instrumental role in mentoring the high school foster care students. “One of the things that they tell us is they wish they’d had our services even before they came to Ohio University … this is a really good opportunity for them to touch base with the next group of Scholars,”
De La Cruz-Guzman said. De La Cruz-Guzman also said there was a lot of support for the event, not only within the university, but also from the Athens community. Local barbecue restaurant Kiser’s catered the Thanksgiving lunch, Ohio University Housing and Residence Life provided the space and many of the foster parents brought desserts.
“Everyone was grateful for those who put in the time and effort into planning for the event and for making it a huge success,” Outrich said. “The food was absolutely delicious and the sense of family and community was felt among us all.”
In the future, OMSAR wants to establish a formal student mentoring program so that foster care students in high school have the opportunity to connect with Ohio Reach Scholars and learn firsthand about the services and resources available to them at the University, such as financial aid and free health care.
OMSAR hopes to use this first Thanksgiving lunch as the groundwork for growth. Future Ohio Reach Scholars Program initiatives include establishing a grant writing program, formalizing the student mentoring program and reaching out to local organizations to welcome foster care students to the Athens campus.
“It’s really important for us at Ohio University to develop this identity that’s committed to serving Ohio Reach Scholars because we’re not only setting out once you get here to support you, but we’re going to make those connections now while you’re still in high school,” De La Cruz-Guzman said.
Hofacker, Catherine, Ohio University, Nov 21, 2015.
It is the season of giving and the Ohio Reach Scholars Program is giving back to the community.
On Nov. 15, The Office of Multicultural Student Access and Retention in partnership with the Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America and other agencies hosted a Thanksgiving lunch in Jefferson Hall for Southeast Ohio foster care children and their families. (ACTION Ohio was the primary facilitating organization, and Athens County CASA, Foster Parent Organization, and JFS helped a great deal)
The early Thanksgiving dinner for current and former foster youth is a statewide event, but this is the first year one has been hosted in Southeast Ohio. The 1 to 4 p.m. lunch was an opportunity to introduce high school foster care students to a college environment and integrate them into the Ohio University family.
“These events are important because they raise awareness in the community about children in foster care,” said Michael Outrich, a senior geographic information systems major. “It allows the Ohio Reach Scholars and Ohio University to reach out and serve the community. It also offers a glimpse into what higher education is to those who are in foster care by showing them the resources and support available to them if they choose to attend college at Ohio University.”
In the past, OMSAR has coordinated alternative programming for the Ohio Reach Scholars during family-themed weekends. Jacob Okumu, program coordinator for student outreach and development services, said the Scholars now want to help plan an event for others.
“They’re already asking, what can we do to help, to reach out to other people?” Okumu said. “You (OMSAR) are creating an opportunity for us to now acknowledge that we have gifts and talents and that we can actually give back.”
Marlene De La Cruz-Guzman, director of OMSAR, said the Ohio Reach Scholars can play an instrumental role in mentoring the high school foster care students. “One of the things that they tell us is they wish they’d had our services even before they came to Ohio University … this is a really good opportunity for them to touch base with the next group of Scholars,”
De La Cruz-Guzman said. De La Cruz-Guzman also said there was a lot of support for the event, not only within the university, but also from the Athens community. Local barbecue restaurant Kiser’s catered the Thanksgiving lunch, Ohio University Housing and Residence Life provided the space and many of the foster parents brought desserts.
“Everyone was grateful for those who put in the time and effort into planning for the event and for making it a huge success,” Outrich said. “The food was absolutely delicious and the sense of family and community was felt among us all.”
In the future, OMSAR wants to establish a formal student mentoring program so that foster care students in high school have the opportunity to connect with Ohio Reach Scholars and learn firsthand about the services and resources available to them at the University, such as financial aid and free health care.
OMSAR hopes to use this first Thanksgiving lunch as the groundwork for growth. Future Ohio Reach Scholars Program initiatives include establishing a grant writing program, formalizing the student mentoring program and reaching out to local organizations to welcome foster care students to the Athens campus.
“It’s really important for us at Ohio University to develop this identity that’s committed to serving Ohio Reach Scholars because we’re not only setting out once you get here to support you, but we’re going to make those connections now while you’re still in high school,” De La Cruz-Guzman said.
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Monday, August 31, 2015
Susan Zaghlool and her story
A triumph of foster care
Cornutte, Mark. Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 2009.
At a time college graduates face one of the worst job markets in decades, Susan Zaghlool has options. She's weighing six-figure offers from a number of companies. She's looking at signing bonuses backed up by many zeroes. Part of what makes her a success story is the fact social workers plucked Zaghlool from an abusive home in 1994 at age 12.
She then lived in a tough Over-the-Rhine group home before striking out on her own as a high school senior. Zaghlool earned her doctorate in pharmacy in May, a lofty achievement for a foster child who was part of a group where just barely 70 percent finish high school and only 13 percent attend college.
Petite and dark with a head full of curly black hair, Zaghlool cracks a high-wattage smile when she talks about where she's come from and where she's going. Her past is seasoned with adults who had faith in her - social workers, teachers and employers. And a mentor who still reaches out to help all these years later.
A decade after they met, Zaghlool still can count on John Kasak, a retired General Electric engineer, when times get rough. "My father," she called him. "Where would I be without the people who helped me?" she said.
Kasak and other adults formed a support system for her, something that more policymakers here and nationally would like to provide for other foster children. Legislation is pending in Congress - the Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2009 - to pay for programs and forgive $20,000 in federal student loans for college graduates who mentor foster children.
Hamilton County in May started the Higher Education Mentoring Initiative for foster children. The program seeks to reduce crime and prepare foster children for college. The University of Cincinnati, a partner with Hamilton County, plans to offer financial aid to former foster children enrolled there.
Long walk begins
Born in Cairo, Egypt, Zaghlool came to the United States as a preschooler when her father, an engineering professor, took a job at the University of California. He moved his family to Ohio a year later to start a computer business. When his only daughter turned 12, he wanted her at home to cook, clean and care for the family's four sons. He hit her and pulled her from beneath her bed by the hair, according to Butler County Children Services records.
"Seven of us lived in a two-bedroom trailer," Zaghlool said. Wearing blue jeans, Zaghlool recently sat on a swing in a park she played in as a child. She came back recently for the first time since she was taken from her family.
"Everybody heard my mom screaming at us in Arabic," she said. "She threw plates at me. I was the bad child." Zaghlool tried to be what she called "normal," but her garage-sale clothing and dark skin made her and her brothers stand out in affluent Lakota schools. She tried smoking marijuana to ease her teen angst.
"I was hopeless at that age," Zaghlool said. "I had the worst family. I didn't think I could ever move up."
Lakota officials filed a report with Butler County Children Services because of her truancy. She was taken from the home briefly. Zaghlool's father promised officials he'd home-school his daughter. She returned to the trailer. He didn't teach her, but she wanted to learn.
One day, she criticized him in a grocery store. He hit her, records show. She hit back and ran away. He called the police. She filed a police report. An investigation revealed the family was in the United States illegally. Her mother and two brothers were sent back to Egypt in 1997. Her father escaped to Canada.
Zaghlool was not deported because she was in temporary custody as a state foster child. The irony of her childhood is not lost on her. The fact she was abused kept her here. "I am truly blessed," said Zaghlool, who became a U.S. citizen last year.
Support system
Zaghlool patched together her own support system through a combination of good fortune and relentless hard work. With no foster care available in Butler County, she ended up in Hearne House, a group home on Elm Street near Cincinnati's Music Hall.
"She believed in education and doing her homework; she read books," home director James Smith said.
Every morning, Zaghlool left before 6:30, walked through Washington Park, east on 13th Street, north on Vine Street and past Kroger. She caught the No. 46 bus to Aiken High School. At ages 15 and 16, she worked at the Vine Street Kroger as a bagger and cashier.
Adrian Oliver then managed the store. "It was a rough place," he said. "She was smart, confident and outgoing. She was not afraid to say hello. She was positive and upbeat." Zaghlool heard about an opening in the pharmacy at the Hyde Park Kroger. She asked Oliver to help. He recommended her. That taste of the pharmacy mapped out her career. She wanted to work in a medical field.
Zaghlool also impressed her Aiken teachers. During her freshman year, consumer sciences teacher Marty Kamrani discovered that beneath Zaghlool's sad shell was a smart girl. "She eventually took everything people offered her and moved forward," the teacher said.
As a student, she was matched with Kasak through GE's partner-in-education program. "She worked the hardest," Kasak said. "She was focused." Sticking with her More important than what Kasak did for her while at Aiken, he stayed with her after she turned 18.
"One of the hardest things (about being a foster child) is when you turn 18 the people who loved you just disappear," she said. "It's like they were paid to love you. As a foster child, you want to be loved ... Once you're out of the system, goodbye, like you never existed. A lot of kids lose hope."
Kasak, now 78, stuck with Zaghlool. He and his wife, Audrey, invited her to their house for dinner and played board games. "We kind of adopted her," he said.
Kasak taught her how to budget her money. He helped her write her resume and prepare college and scholarship applications. She earned the Darwin T. Turner minority scholarship at UC, which gave her a full ride to the school. He also helped her with the citizenship application.
Keeping busy
She majored in chemistry and earned a 3.3 grade point average. She lived in a dorm during the summers after her freshman and sophomore years. She worked as a resident assistant and got involved in student government.
Summers were difficult. "It was so lonely, so I took classes the second year to make it feel more normal," she said.
Earlier in life, Zaghlool experienced enough loneliness to cope with college. She stayed busy. She had lived by herself in an independent living program as an Aiken senior.
Laura Bennett, now a Butler County Children Services night supervisor, started the program and worked with Zaghlool. "Susan will always give credit to people who helped her, but people were drawn to her," Bennett said. "She didn't have the attitude that `the world owes me.' She went for what she wanted. She didn't get angry about her family situation, and she hardly ever said anything about her dad."
As the stakes grew higher, Zaghlool limited e-mail and phone contact with her family. She had nothing to do with her father, although she visited her mother and other family members in Egypt in 2000. "They didn't understand what I was trying to do,"
Zaghlool said of the demands of Lake Erie College's pharmacy school, in Erie, Pa. "They stressed me out, made me feel anxious. You can't afford one bad day or to be distracted."
Still, her life as a former foster child is never far behind her. She said she is stalked by a man who lived with her at the Over-the-Rhine group home.
More angels have appeared. Through the Orphan Foundation of America, based in Washington, Zaghlool won a $20,000 scholarship provided by Barbara and Marshall Grimes, a childless couple from Vienna, Va. That money helped pay for pharmacy school.
"We wanted to help a child who didn't have a family," Barbara Grimes said. "Marshall's dad was a pharmacist." She called Zaghlool to ask about her studies. They traded e-mails and photos. Barbara Grimes sent homemade cookies throughout the year and a Christmas care package.
No sense of entitlement
"She was always very grateful. She never had the attitude that she was entitled to anything," Barbara Grimes said. The couple finally met her May 31 in Erie at graduation. They weren't the only ones there for the former foster kid from Cincinnati's tough inner city. John and Audrey Kasak were there, too, like they've been many times in the past.
When Zaghlool crashed her car last winter, Kasak told her not to worry and co-signed a car loan for her. She wants to work in Greater Cincinnati. She is $150,000 in debt from her student loans for pharmacy school, but as soon as she gets stable financially, she wants to donate money to Hearne House.
That she was a foster child is never far from her mind. Even at this positive crossroads in her life, Zaghlool said, John and Audrey Kasak are what every orphan needs - someone to be there like a family would. John Kasak shrugged as if to deflect her gratitude. "As long as someone is eager and wants to do something, why not help them?" he asked.
Additional Facts Foster care:
'Aging out' crisis An estimated 24,000 children per year "age out," that is, turn 18 and are released from the child welfare system in the United States. These former foster children face long odds of leading productive lives.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Within two years of being "emancipated" from the system, one in four former foster children will be in jail. If 48,000 former foster children are within two years of leaving foster care, 12,000 of them will be in or will have spent time in prison.
EDUCATION
Of those 24,000 cut loose of government care, 70 percent -- or 16,800 -- will have finished high school. Only 13 percent of former foster children attend college, or 2,184. Of those entering college, only 3 percent will graduate, or an even smaller raw number of 66. (Another study shows that 37 percent of former foster children attend some college, but those numbers include people who have grown into middle-age.)
HOMELESSNESS
One in five of former foster children will be homeless sometime after age 18. Within the first year, that means the number is 4,800 of 24,000. Females are more likely to move in and out of friends' homes, going from couch to couch. Sources: The Pew Charitable Trusts' "Time for Reform: Aging Our and On Their Own." Casey Family Programs, Orphan Foundation of America, National Foster Care Coalition.
Editorial: Ohio youth aging out of foster care need more help
Editorial: Ohio youth aging out of foster care need more help
Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 20, 2015
For too long, many youngsters who have aged out of foster care at 18 and gone on to college have floundered, bereft of parents who provide money, moral support and a place to stay during holiday breaks.
Cleveland.com guest columnist Brant Duda wrote recently that he "had to learn how to be an adult in a hurry. Things such as opening a bank account, doing laundry in a laundromat and shopping for food were new experiences for which I had no teacher."
No one can give former foster-care youth caring parents. But Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland State University, the Ohio legislature and philanthropists are trying to find innovative ways to help college-bound and employed former foster care youth avoid the pitfalls of life after foster care: lack of education, homelessness and crime.
For instance, Tri-C will mentor former foster care youth this fall in hopes of boosting their graduation rate, thanks to a three-year, $60,000 grant from Ohio Reach, a nonprofit organization that advocates for higher education for those who grew up in foster homes. Tri-C has approximately 1,000 former foster-care youth.
At CSU, 10 former foster-care youth selected for the $2.3 million Sullivan-Deckard Scholars Opportunity Program will be awarded scholarships for tuition and living expenses, plus on-campus jobs to give them the helping hand they need to graduate. Other Ohio colleges and universities should seek out donations so they can follow CSU's lead, but the legislature could make a big difference in the lives of those who have aged out of the foster care system -- about 1,000 a year in Ohio -- by passing House Bill 50 when it returns from recess in September.
The bill would allow Ohio to tap into a 2008 federal grant that helps support former foster-care youth up to 21 years old who want to stay with a foster family or move into supervised housing, as long as they are working, attending school or have a documented disability. The state would have to pay a little more than $10 million to create this worthwhile program.
In short, it will take an all-out effort from the Ohio legislature, colleges and charities to help foster-care youth become responsible, gainfully employed adults capable of taking care of their own children. It must be a priority.
Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 20, 2015
For too long, many youngsters who have aged out of foster care at 18 and gone on to college have floundered, bereft of parents who provide money, moral support and a place to stay during holiday breaks.
Cleveland.com guest columnist Brant Duda wrote recently that he "had to learn how to be an adult in a hurry. Things such as opening a bank account, doing laundry in a laundromat and shopping for food were new experiences for which I had no teacher."
No one can give former foster-care youth caring parents. But Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland State University, the Ohio legislature and philanthropists are trying to find innovative ways to help college-bound and employed former foster care youth avoid the pitfalls of life after foster care: lack of education, homelessness and crime.
For instance, Tri-C will mentor former foster care youth this fall in hopes of boosting their graduation rate, thanks to a three-year, $60,000 grant from Ohio Reach, a nonprofit organization that advocates for higher education for those who grew up in foster homes. Tri-C has approximately 1,000 former foster-care youth.
At CSU, 10 former foster-care youth selected for the $2.3 million Sullivan-Deckard Scholars Opportunity Program will be awarded scholarships for tuition and living expenses, plus on-campus jobs to give them the helping hand they need to graduate. Other Ohio colleges and universities should seek out donations so they can follow CSU's lead, but the legislature could make a big difference in the lives of those who have aged out of the foster care system -- about 1,000 a year in Ohio -- by passing House Bill 50 when it returns from recess in September.
The bill would allow Ohio to tap into a 2008 federal grant that helps support former foster-care youth up to 21 years old who want to stay with a foster family or move into supervised housing, as long as they are working, attending school or have a documented disability. The state would have to pay a little more than $10 million to create this worthwhile program.
In short, it will take an all-out effort from the Ohio legislature, colleges and charities to help foster-care youth become responsible, gainfully employed adults capable of taking care of their own children. It must be a priority.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Lorain County foster care alumni in the news
Editorial: Youth aging out of foster care could finally get the help they need from Ohio legislators
Cleveland.com Editorial Board, July 08, 2015
House Bill 50, a sensible measure that would extend foster care up to age 21 and bring Ohio in line with 26 other states and the District of Columbia, died in committee last year. This year it has passed two committees and deserves passage by the Ohio House and Senate.
Currently, most Ohio youngsters in foster care are on their own when they reach 18 and foster-care subsidies end. It's no wonder that these youth are at risk for homelessness, incarceration and human trafficking.
The bill won't offer youth money, but rather an opportunity to stay with a foster family or move into supervised housing as long as they are working, attending school or have a documented disability, said Mark Mecum, chair of Ohio Fostering Connections.
The measure will allow Ohio to take advantage of a 2008 federal grant that gives states matching funds for extending foster care. About 1,000 Ohio youth a year age out of foster care.
The state will have to spend a little more than $10 million to create and implement the program. It's well worth it.
Makkedah's interview in the Columbus Dispatch
Bill would extend foster care 3 years
Plan hopes for better future to help state’s most vulnerable youth
Price, Rita, Columbus Dispatch Saturday July 18, 2015
If her family life had collapsed in another state, Makkedah Cutshall might still be in foster care. Rent, utility payments and grocery bills wouldn’t yet be causing her anxiety.
“That would be real helpful,” said Cutshall, who aged out of foster care last year at 18. “I’d maybe have a chance to save.”
She has been working with advocates to urge passage of a bill to extend foster-care programs in Ohio to age 21, a change that would offer three more years of assistance to some of the state’s most vulnerable youths.
Supporters had hoped that the bill, which also includes “bill of rights” provisions for wards in guardianship cases, would be approved along with the biennial budget. Now, they’re aiming for action yet this year.
“What’s sad, or perhaps moving, is how many foster teens who have aged out are active in this campaign,” said Mark Mecum, executive director of the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies.
“It’s frustrating to get emails from children who ask, ‘Has this passed yet? How can I help?’ ”
Between 1,000 and 1,300 foster youths leave Ohio’s system each year after they turn 18. Staggering numbers of them soon experience homelessness, or become parents, or fall into the justice system.
About 26 states, along with Washington, D.C., already have extended foster care to 21 or are in the process of passing legislation to do so, Mecum said.
“We need to do better by them,” said Scott Britton of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. The association, whose members represent the state’s child-welfare systems, supports the legislation, he said.
Sources differ on whether the snag in passage primarily reflects issues with provisions in the guardianship bill of rights, the price tag for extended foster-care programs, or both.
“There is just a reluctance to do anything that is not cost-neutral,” Britton said. “But I think the cost-benefit analysis is compelling in terms of investing upfront and saving money down the line.”
The 2016 startup cost for an extended foster-care program would mean about $550,000 in state money next year, then up to $9.7 million in 2017, depending on whether the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has it fully or partly implemented by then.
Up to $14.8 million in federal foster-care money also would be budgeted for the program in 2017, for a total of about $24.5 million in state and federal funds that year.
The guardianship portion of the bill would require all guardians to receive a copy of the Ohio Guardianship Guide, and to sign a waiver saying they had received it and the “bill of rights” enumerated in the bill.
State Reps. Cheryl Grossman of Grove City and Dorothy Pelanda of Marysville, Republicans who are co-sponsors, have said the need for new guidelines for guardians became clear following the Dispatch series “Unguarded,” which found widespread problems and exploitation.
Although the guardianship proposal doesn’t create any new rights for wards, some supporters took exception to changes in the wards’ bill of rights that added language “excluding abortion services” and removed language on the “right to vote, if legally able.” Such language doesn’t take away those rights, but it could cause confusion, some advocates say.
“Our position has been we want to see it passed as originally introduced,” said Michael Kirkman, executive director of Disability Rights Ohio. “Any changes have the potential to make unintended consequences.”
Pelanda said she’s confident the bill can be passed this year. She doesn’t think foster care and guardianships should be considered in separate proposals.
“These are two populations that I consider to be voiceless and vulnerable — they share that bond,” she said. “The future of Ohio, and our economy, is fully dependent on the strength of our families."
On that point, Cutshall, now 19, would agree. She’s just trying to figure out how she can get far enough ahead to thrive. She shares a tidy, spare Reynoldsburg apartment with a roommate and dreams of having a car someday.
For now, she rides her bicycle to the bus stop and then faces a two-hour bus trip (including transfers) to her minimum-wage job on the North Side. “I’m trying not to let myself get down,” she said. “But I would still be with my foster mom if I could.”
Monday, November 24, 2014
A Thanksgiving Home for Ohio's Foster Youth
A Thanksgiving Home for Ohio's Foster Youth
Public News Service - OH
November 21, 2014
COLUMBUS, Ohio - While many families are able to gather to enjoy the upcoming holidays, this time of year for foster youth can be a reminder of what's been missing from their lives. An annual series of Early Thanksgiving Dinners offers a chance for these children and foster alumni in Ohio to gather and feel welcome.
As a foster child for 10 years, Dylan McIntosh of Cleveland said he lived in 23 different homes. He said these regional dinners are places of peace and comfort for foster kids.
"They don't have the normal resources that a child or teenager with parents that love and care about them has," he said. "There's no financial backing, there's no place to go home for the holidays; there's no one you can run to for love and support when you need it. They're at a disadvantage."
Hundreds of teens "age out" out of the foster-care system in Ohio each year, and McIntosh said they need financial, social and emotional supports to help them lead successful lives.
The Ohio Youth Advisory Board, Ohio Reach and Connecting the Dots are among the programs helping these foster teens transition into adulthood.
Laquita Howell of Cincinnati attended the dinners as a former foster child, and now helps get others involved. She said she's made lifelong friendships with others who have helped her along the way.
"I've had a connection with one of our local foster-caring services and I got a job with them," she said. "It was really nice to see that they not only bring their youth to the Thanksgiving dinner - that they come, and they promote it, so that other kids don't feel left out."
Meanwhile, Saturday is National Adoption Day, which McIntosh said highlights the need to ensure that more Ohio foster children can find permanent homes.
"Foster children are more deserving than they let on, they're more loving than they let on, and they're no different from any other child - they just don't have as much as a normal person, growing up with a family," he said. "They're just left to gamble with it, and hope that the government does it right."
The Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America hosts the dinners. The next is Sunday in Reynoldsburg. Information about the events is online at thanksgivingtogether.wikspaces.com.
As a foster child for 10 years, Dylan McIntosh of Cleveland said he lived in 23 different homes. He said these regional dinners are places of peace and comfort for foster kids.
"They don't have the normal resources that a child or teenager with parents that love and care about them has," he said. "There's no financial backing, there's no place to go home for the holidays; there's no one you can run to for love and support when you need it. They're at a disadvantage."
Hundreds of teens "age out" out of the foster-care system in Ohio each year, and McIntosh said they need financial, social and emotional supports to help them lead successful lives.
The Ohio Youth Advisory Board, Ohio Reach and Connecting the Dots are among the programs helping these foster teens transition into adulthood.
Laquita Howell of Cincinnati attended the dinners as a former foster child, and now helps get others involved. She said she's made lifelong friendships with others who have helped her along the way.
"I've had a connection with one of our local foster-caring services and I got a job with them," she said. "It was really nice to see that they not only bring their youth to the Thanksgiving dinner - that they come, and they promote it, so that other kids don't feel left out."
Meanwhile, Saturday is National Adoption Day, which McIntosh said highlights the need to ensure that more Ohio foster children can find permanent homes.
"Foster children are more deserving than they let on, they're more loving than they let on, and they're no different from any other child - they just don't have as much as a normal person, growing up with a family," he said. "They're just left to gamble with it, and hope that the government does it right."
The Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America hosts the dinners. The next is Sunday in Reynoldsburg. Information about the events is online at thanksgivingtogether.wikspaces.com.
Friday, February 07, 2014
Congratulations to Lighthouse Youth Services
Youth at Risk of Homelessness Federal Planning Grant
Congratulations to Lighthouse Youth Services in Cincinnati for receiving a two-year, $360,000-a-year planning grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop strategies to prevent homelessness among youth aging out of foster care. OFC, the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services and the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Policy Research are partnering with Lighthouse in this project.
In addition, Lighthouse has formed a steering committee that includes Cincinnati Public Schools, Hamilton County Juvenile Court, the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, the Lighthouse Youth Advisory Board, the Partnership Center, the Southwest Ohio Region Workforce Investment Board and the nonprofit organization Strategies to End Homelessness.
In addition, Lighthouse has formed a steering committee that includes Cincinnati Public Schools, Hamilton County Juvenile Court, the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, the Lighthouse Youth Advisory Board, the Partnership Center, the Southwest Ohio Region Workforce Investment Board and the nonprofit organization Strategies to End Homelessness.
Lighthouse launched the project last month with a community forum that featured a discussion with Ohio Rep. Teresa Fedor, who discussed the connection between homeless youth and human trafficking. The goal of the project is to improve outcomes for at-risk youth in four key areas: social and emotional well-being, stable housing, permanent connections, and education and job readiness.
Saturday, February 01, 2014
Hooray for Mariah Maxwell and Markeema McMillan -- great job!!
Foster youths in Hamilton County honored for academic success with scholarships from HEMI
Mirones, Tony. WCPO Cincinnati,
Dec 12, 2013.
CINCINNATI -- Markeema McMillan is doing something people have doubted she’d be able to do her entire life. She’s succeeding.
McMillan is a foster youth and a byproduct of the Hamilton County foster care system. Despite the best efforts of the employees and workers of the county system, foster youths often struggle through the education system.
National statistics for foster children who turn 18 and "age out" of the system are not encouraging. According to the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care report (2004):
Refusing to become victims and to societal expectations, McMillan and several of her peers have benefited from the resources provided by the Higher Education Mentoring Initiative, or HEMI. The organization works to “affect positive change as … students continue on the path to adulthood” by encouraging foster youth to pursue post-secondary education through mentoring.
Within weeks of Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann taking office in January 2009, he worked with Hamilton County Job and Family Services to design and implement the HEMI program. The group works with people like McMillan who’ve aged out of the Hamilton County Foster Care system.
“By pairing foster youth with mentors, HEMI is improving the safety net available to these students after they turn 18 and emancipate from the county’s care,” said Moira Weir, director of Hamilton County Job and Family Services and a founding partner of HEMI.
HEMI mentors volunteer to serve as long-term educational consultants and are committed to providing support for youth throughout their high school education and beyond.
Mentors take on duties such as helping students with homework, guide them through making educational decisions and generally encouraging the students to work toward their educational goals. They also help them with tasks such as finding housing.
Mentor Kelly Winters says it’s imperative to support foster youths who have unique challenges that put them at a disadvantage against many of their peers.
"They're on their own and they've got all the adult responsibilities too so it's really a challenge for them. And any support we can give them will help them,” Winters said.
McMillan said her time working with the people at HEMI has helped boost her self-esteem and made her believe earning a college degree is a possibility. "(Being a foster youth) made me have low self-esteem, but now I look at it as motivation," McMillan said.
Each of the 45 participants have graduated from high school. That’s a 100 percent success rate since it started in 2009. Most have gone on to pursue some form of higher education, according to HEMI officials.
One of the organization's early success stories is Mariah Maxwell. She was HEMI’s first college graduate. In fact, she earned two degrees in three years. Now Maxwell working toward her Master’s degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati.
In addition to her individual successes, Maxwell serves as an inspiration to many foster youths. Seeing what Maxwell has accomplished inspired McMillan and other young people in the program to believe they can do great things as well.
"I tell myself every morning that I can do it and I have a purpose," said McMillan who credits much of her positive outlook to HEMI and its staff.
While McMillan is the first to thank HEMI for all its given to her, the organization wants to give something back as a way to congratulate her for all she has accomplished. Thursday night, McMillian will be honored with a $20,000 academic scholarship at the HEMI Holiday and Scholarship Dinner. She’s one of 11 recipients of the award.
In total, five high school seniors and six students currently enrolled in post-secondary institutions will receive the scholarships will take place at 6 p.m. at the Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center. Scholarship awards will be presented to recipients at 7:20 p.m.
“These scholarships are another tool to help further HEMI’s mission of encouraging and supporting foster youth in their pursuit of a college degree or job training,” said Hartmann.
Hartmann raised the money for the scholarships privately through the annual HEMI “Run for the Roses” Kentucky Derby fundraiser. Funds also came through a grant by AT and T.
McMillan is grateful for the scholarship and all the help she has received. But she doesn't want to stop at gratitude. McMillan says she wants to use the opportunity HEMI is providing her to better the lives of other people. She plans to be a social worker when she graduates.
"I know what it's like to not have help. It just makes me feel good when I help people. It's my passion, I just feel like it comes naturally," McMillan said.
CINCINNATI -- Markeema McMillan is doing something people have doubted she’d be able to do her entire life. She’s succeeding.
McMillan is a foster youth and a byproduct of the Hamilton County foster care system. Despite the best efforts of the employees and workers of the county system, foster youths often struggle through the education system.
National statistics for foster children who turn 18 and "age out" of the system are not encouraging. According to the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care report (2004):
- 58 percent complete high school compared to 87 percent of the general population
- 3 percent earn college degrees compared to 28 percent of the general population
- 25 percent are incarcerated within the first two years of "aging out"
- 20 percent become homeless
Refusing to become victims and to societal expectations, McMillan and several of her peers have benefited from the resources provided by the Higher Education Mentoring Initiative, or HEMI. The organization works to “affect positive change as … students continue on the path to adulthood” by encouraging foster youth to pursue post-secondary education through mentoring.
Within weeks of Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann taking office in January 2009, he worked with Hamilton County Job and Family Services to design and implement the HEMI program. The group works with people like McMillan who’ve aged out of the Hamilton County Foster Care system.
“By pairing foster youth with mentors, HEMI is improving the safety net available to these students after they turn 18 and emancipate from the county’s care,” said Moira Weir, director of Hamilton County Job and Family Services and a founding partner of HEMI.
HEMI mentors volunteer to serve as long-term educational consultants and are committed to providing support for youth throughout their high school education and beyond.
Mentors take on duties such as helping students with homework, guide them through making educational decisions and generally encouraging the students to work toward their educational goals. They also help them with tasks such as finding housing.
Mentor Kelly Winters says it’s imperative to support foster youths who have unique challenges that put them at a disadvantage against many of their peers.
"They're on their own and they've got all the adult responsibilities too so it's really a challenge for them. And any support we can give them will help them,” Winters said.
McMillan said her time working with the people at HEMI has helped boost her self-esteem and made her believe earning a college degree is a possibility. "(Being a foster youth) made me have low self-esteem, but now I look at it as motivation," McMillan said.
Each of the 45 participants have graduated from high school. That’s a 100 percent success rate since it started in 2009. Most have gone on to pursue some form of higher education, according to HEMI officials.
One of the organization's early success stories is Mariah Maxwell. She was HEMI’s first college graduate. In fact, she earned two degrees in three years. Now Maxwell working toward her Master’s degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati.
In addition to her individual successes, Maxwell serves as an inspiration to many foster youths. Seeing what Maxwell has accomplished inspired McMillan and other young people in the program to believe they can do great things as well.
"I tell myself every morning that I can do it and I have a purpose," said McMillan who credits much of her positive outlook to HEMI and its staff.
While McMillan is the first to thank HEMI for all its given to her, the organization wants to give something back as a way to congratulate her for all she has accomplished. Thursday night, McMillian will be honored with a $20,000 academic scholarship at the HEMI Holiday and Scholarship Dinner. She’s one of 11 recipients of the award.
In total, five high school seniors and six students currently enrolled in post-secondary institutions will receive the scholarships will take place at 6 p.m. at the Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center. Scholarship awards will be presented to recipients at 7:20 p.m.
“These scholarships are another tool to help further HEMI’s mission of encouraging and supporting foster youth in their pursuit of a college degree or job training,” said Hartmann.
Hartmann raised the money for the scholarships privately through the annual HEMI “Run for the Roses” Kentucky Derby fundraiser. Funds also came through a grant by AT and T.
McMillan is grateful for the scholarship and all the help she has received. But she doesn't want to stop at gratitude. McMillan says she wants to use the opportunity HEMI is providing her to better the lives of other people. She plans to be a social worker when she graduates.
"I know what it's like to not have help. It just makes me feel good when I help people. It's my passion, I just feel like it comes naturally," McMillan said.
OHIO YAB President Allissa Mitchell in the news
Kids want foster-care support to age 21
Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 30, 2014.With more than a year to go until she turns 18, Allissa Mitchell hopes she’ll be reunited with her family before that milestone birthday.
But dreams don’t always come true. So just in case, Mitchell — a 16-year-old living in foster care — is pushing for a guarantee that she won’t be alone and on her own as soon as she becomes an adult.
“We really need that leeway,” said Mitchell, who attended a gathering yesterday of advocates who want Ohio to join the growing number of states that offer the option of foster-care support to age 21.
Foster youths who age out of the system at 18 often are ill-prepared and overwhelmed. One widely cited study showed that more than 1 in 5 becomes homeless, 1 in 4 becomes involved in the justice system within two years, and about 70 percent of the young women are pregnant by 21.
“These aren’t just numbers,” Mitchell said. “These are lives. Actual lives.”
Mitchell is president of the Overcoming Hurdles in Ohio Youth Advisory Board, an advocacy organization of young people who have experienced foster care.
Lisa Dickson, an adult supporter for the board, said members discussed the possibility of extended care during their retreat this month. Their views surprised her.
“As a former foster youth who aged out in the 1980s, I assumed that youth wouldn’t be interested” in possible care to age 21, Dickson said. “I was wrong.”
Mitchell, a Stark County resident, said the proposal is overwhelmingly popular among young people.
“Who, realistically, has a job that they can live on at that age?” asked Marjory Curry, 26. She aged out of foster care at 18, went to college and received some ongoing support from Lucas County that made a big difference.
Resources for post-emancipation programs and support vary by county. “I do feel like I’m standing on the shoulders of a lot of people,” Curry said. “I didn’t make it by myself.”
Between 1,000 and 1,300 Ohio foster youths age out of the system each year when they turn 18, said Mark Mecum, executive director of the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies.
Mecum said advocates want the state to pay the local tab for foster youths who opt to remain in the system after age 18. About two-thirds of foster-care costs are paid by the federal government. Alvin Mares, an Ohio State University professor, is developing a cost estimate and a cost-benefit analysis to show whether the expansion would save the state money through reduced spending on welfare, incarceration, health care and other needs.
The Fostering Connections Act of 2008 allows states to use federal foster-care money for eligible youths up to age 21, rather than 18. About 25 states plus the District of Columbia now have such programs in place or pending.
Most have extended foster care to 21 through legislation rather than administrative rule so that it becomes a mandate, Mecum said. The federal government would have final approval of the plan.
Too often, it comes down to a question of money
Editorial: Some foster kids need more time
Columbus Dispatch, January 13, 2014.
For years, advocates for Ohio’s kids in foster care have warned that those who “age out” — whose birth families never come back together, and who find themselves on their own and unprepared at 18 — are at high risk of becoming homeless, getting (or getting someone) pregnant, falling in with criminals and otherwise seeing their lives derailed before they begin.
A solution offered by a group of agencies — extending foster care to age 21 — could make sense, if it is designed to prepare those young adults for adult responsibility.
Simply extending the time they’re given meals, supervision and a roof over their heads won’t make them better prepared. An extension of foster care should include direct instruction — what some groups call an independent-living curriculum — in life-survival basics.
More-fortunate children go to the protected world of college for four years; others can linger at home longer while they try to turn an entry-level job into a career they can live on. For most people, that doesn’t happen overnight. Imagine the challenge faced by an 18-year-old, suddenly expected to support herself, with no parents’ house to retreat to. Throw in the aftereffects of a traumatic childhood and the likelihood of failure is plain.
Give foster teens the type of post-high-school safety net that others have, on the other hand, and they’d have a better shot at success in college or a job.
Twenty-five states, plus the District of Columbia, have such programs.
A 2008 federal law provides some funding for the extension, but states and local communities have to pay some of the cost, too.
A group called the Ohio Fostering Connections Task Force is pushing for the idea. Because local child-welfare funding varies greatly from county to county, it plans to ask the state to support a uniform program statewide.
Mark Mecum, executive director of the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies, believes buffering foster teens against failure easily would pay for itself, by turning dependence into independence.
One option to consider, favored by foster-care advocates, is to give 18-year-olds options. If they, as many 18-year-olds, want to try living on their own, they can do so, but also retain the option to return to foster care, up to age 21, if they stumble.
California has created a special foster-care license for volunteers expressly interested in helping 18-to-21-year-olds. The program refers to them as “teaching homes.”
Those fortunate enough to be born into stable and loving families all come from “teaching homes”; they can learn gradually to fly on their own, and have Mom and/or Dad to turn to in times of trouble. Parents who ruefully but lovingly joke about “failure to launch” — adult children who keep coming back — know all about that.
Extended foster care, like regular foster care, never can equal a nurturing family from birth. But for a young person without that blessing, a well-designed program, offering some growing-up lessons and a chance to fail without catastrophe, could improve lives immeasurably.
Columbus Dispatch, January 13, 2014.
For years, advocates for Ohio’s kids in foster care have warned that those who “age out” — whose birth families never come back together, and who find themselves on their own and unprepared at 18 — are at high risk of becoming homeless, getting (or getting someone) pregnant, falling in with criminals and otherwise seeing their lives derailed before they begin.
A solution offered by a group of agencies — extending foster care to age 21 — could make sense, if it is designed to prepare those young adults for adult responsibility.
Simply extending the time they’re given meals, supervision and a roof over their heads won’t make them better prepared. An extension of foster care should include direct instruction — what some groups call an independent-living curriculum — in life-survival basics.
More-fortunate children go to the protected world of college for four years; others can linger at home longer while they try to turn an entry-level job into a career they can live on. For most people, that doesn’t happen overnight. Imagine the challenge faced by an 18-year-old, suddenly expected to support herself, with no parents’ house to retreat to. Throw in the aftereffects of a traumatic childhood and the likelihood of failure is plain.
Give foster teens the type of post-high-school safety net that others have, on the other hand, and they’d have a better shot at success in college or a job.
Twenty-five states, plus the District of Columbia, have such programs.
A 2008 federal law provides some funding for the extension, but states and local communities have to pay some of the cost, too.
A group called the Ohio Fostering Connections Task Force is pushing for the idea. Because local child-welfare funding varies greatly from county to county, it plans to ask the state to support a uniform program statewide.
Mark Mecum, executive director of the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies, believes buffering foster teens against failure easily would pay for itself, by turning dependence into independence.
One option to consider, favored by foster-care advocates, is to give 18-year-olds options. If they, as many 18-year-olds, want to try living on their own, they can do so, but also retain the option to return to foster care, up to age 21, if they stumble.
California has created a special foster-care license for volunteers expressly interested in helping 18-to-21-year-olds. The program refers to them as “teaching homes.”
Those fortunate enough to be born into stable and loving families all come from “teaching homes”; they can learn gradually to fly on their own, and have Mom and/or Dad to turn to in times of trouble. Parents who ruefully but lovingly joke about “failure to launch” — adult children who keep coming back — know all about that.
Extended foster care, like regular foster care, never can equal a nurturing family from birth. But for a young person without that blessing, a well-designed program, offering some growing-up lessons and a chance to fail without catastrophe, could improve lives immeasurably.
Ohio hoping to extend foster care supports for youth between ages 18-21
Foster care until age 21 has backers
Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch. Jan. 6, 2014 A group of child-welfare advocates is launching a campaign to get Ohio to join the growing number of states that extend foster care to age 21.
Between 1,000 and 1,300 Ohio foster youths age out of the system each year when they turn 18, and too many exit to a bleak landscape with scant resources and support, said Mark Mecum, executive director of the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies.
Homelessness, crime and early parenthood are common experiences. Success in college and on the job is often elusive.
“Investing in this population by extending supports brings forth all sorts of benefits to society,” Mecum said. “Those benefits far outweigh the costs.”
He said that 25 states plus the District of Columbia have programs to stretch foster care to age 21 for youths who want to keep services as they work toward independence.
“All the states that are as big as Ohio already have done this,” Mecum said.
The Fostering Connections Act of 2008 allows states to use federal foster-care money for eligible youths up to age 21, rather than 18.
State and local governments, however, still pay a share of the cost.
And in Ohio, with a county-based system of 88 public child-welfare agencies, budgets vary widely. Some county agencies, such as Franklin’s, are resource-rich and receive money from property-tax levies. Others, especially in rural areas, are pressed.
Mecum said the Ohio Fostering Connections task force plans to ask the state — and not the individual counties — to pay the local tab for foster youths who remain in care after age 18.
“Part of our research will be showing the cost benefit to doing this in Ohio,” he said.
Mecum said the group, which is meeting later this month, is contracting with an Ohio State University professor to develop a cost estimate.
Chip Spinning, executive director of Franklin County Children Services, said the agency is interested in the idea. “We realize that many of our kids in our system, and even in the general population, are not ready to make it on their own in the adult world at that age,” he said.
But extending the age limit won’t be as beneficial as advocates hope unless the extra years of care are designed to prepare the youths for independence, said Crystal Allen, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. Without program improvements, some experts agree, foster-care extensions may only delay homelessness instead of prevent it.
“Just doing more of the same isn’t sufficient,” said Amy Dworsky, a senior researcher at Chapin Hall, a child and family research center at the University of Chicago. “You need to provide them with the kind of housing options and experiences that are going to help them.”
Dworsky said extended foster care already is making a difference in high-school and post-secondary education. She thinks that re-entry provisions also are important, so that foster teens who decide not to continue care after turning 18 have a chance to change their minds.
In states where care extends to age 21, most foster teens opt to stay. “I think the youth know a good thing when they see it,” Dworsky said.
Mecum said the task force wants to make clear the struggle that many foster youths face. “These kids are more likely to be homeless than other kids, and new information from the state of Ohio shows that they’re also likely to be targets of human trafficking,” he said.
Ohio needs better oversight of psychotropic medication and foster children
Ohio Medicaid data document rising polypharmacy in foster children
Miller, Naseem S., Family Practice News. Children and Adolescent Medicine.
Prescribing of three or more psychotropic medications has increased among foster children enrolled in Medicaid, based on an analysis of claims data in Ohio. The findings of polypharmacy are raising red flags about oversight and monitoring of psychotropic medication use among high-risk youth.
By 2008, nearly a quarter of foster care and disabled children in the Ohio Medicaid program were prescribed three or more psychiatric medications. Nearly one-fifth of them were prescribed medications from three or more drug classes, with the most common combination being stimulants, antipsychotics, and alpha-agonists.
The findings make a powerful case for system-wide oversight and monitoring of psychotropic prescribing practices in the Medicaid population, especially for children in foster care, said Cynthia A. Fontanella, Ph.D., of the Ohio State University, Columbus, who led the study and presented her findings at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. "We don’t know if these kids are doing better ... The increase has "occurred despite lack of data on safety and efficacy of multiple drug combination and existing concerns about adverse effects of drug-drug interactions."
A 2012 report by the Government Accountability Office that showed 18% of foster children were taking psychotropic medications. That report additionally noted, however, that 30% of the children who may have needed mental health services hadn't received them. The rising rates of polypharmacy, especially in children enrolled in Medicaid, have been documented in other studies.
But the accumulating data implies polypharmacy is pervasive in at-risk children. "It’s a growing trend," said Susan dosReis, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, who has studied psychiatric prescription patterns among youth. She was not involved in the study. Dr. dosReis acknowledged that the issue is complex, especially in the cases of children with severe conditions. Clinicians face families who are looking for a way to manage their child or to keep them in school. "And once you have a child on a combination, and there’s improvement, the thought of taking away the medications is hard to accept, because [the family is] afraid that the condition will worsen again."
Prescribing multiple psychotropic medications has increased among foster children enrolled in Medicaid, with accumulating data implying polypharmacy is pervasive in at-risk children.
Also, follow-up has been problematic, with data that don’t clearly indicate whether the children were on several medications for a short period of time until they were stabilized, or the whether the polypharmacy lasted longer. Data for children enrolled in private insurance are lacking, and prescribing is difficult to track for children in foster care because they move frequently.
Dr. Fontanella and her colleagues compared polypharmacy patterns and rates in foster care, disabled, and low-income youth aged 17 years and younger enrolled in Ohio Medicaid between 2002 (n = 26,000) and 2008 (n = 50,000). The two outcome measures — any polypharmacy (three or more medications) — and multiclass polypharmacy (three or more medications from different drug classes) increased over time across all three groups. Polypharmacy increased from 9% to 12% for low-income youth; from 18% to 25% in disabled youth; and from 20% to 27% in foster care youth.
Miller, Naseem S., Family Practice News. Children and Adolescent Medicine.
Prescribing of three or more psychotropic medications has increased among foster children enrolled in Medicaid, based on an analysis of claims data in Ohio. The findings of polypharmacy are raising red flags about oversight and monitoring of psychotropic medication use among high-risk youth.
By 2008, nearly a quarter of foster care and disabled children in the Ohio Medicaid program were prescribed three or more psychiatric medications. Nearly one-fifth of them were prescribed medications from three or more drug classes, with the most common combination being stimulants, antipsychotics, and alpha-agonists.
The findings make a powerful case for system-wide oversight and monitoring of psychotropic prescribing practices in the Medicaid population, especially for children in foster care, said Cynthia A. Fontanella, Ph.D., of the Ohio State University, Columbus, who led the study and presented her findings at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. "We don’t know if these kids are doing better ... The increase has "occurred despite lack of data on safety and efficacy of multiple drug combination and existing concerns about adverse effects of drug-drug interactions."
A 2012 report by the Government Accountability Office that showed 18% of foster children were taking psychotropic medications. That report additionally noted, however, that 30% of the children who may have needed mental health services hadn't received them. The rising rates of polypharmacy, especially in children enrolled in Medicaid, have been documented in other studies.
But the accumulating data implies polypharmacy is pervasive in at-risk children. "It’s a growing trend," said Susan dosReis, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, who has studied psychiatric prescription patterns among youth. She was not involved in the study. Dr. dosReis acknowledged that the issue is complex, especially in the cases of children with severe conditions. Clinicians face families who are looking for a way to manage their child or to keep them in school. "And once you have a child on a combination, and there’s improvement, the thought of taking away the medications is hard to accept, because [the family is] afraid that the condition will worsen again."
Prescribing multiple psychotropic medications has increased among foster children enrolled in Medicaid, with accumulating data implying polypharmacy is pervasive in at-risk children.
Also, follow-up has been problematic, with data that don’t clearly indicate whether the children were on several medications for a short period of time until they were stabilized, or the whether the polypharmacy lasted longer. Data for children enrolled in private insurance are lacking, and prescribing is difficult to track for children in foster care because they move frequently.
Dr. Fontanella and her colleagues compared polypharmacy patterns and rates in foster care, disabled, and low-income youth aged 17 years and younger enrolled in Ohio Medicaid between 2002 (n = 26,000) and 2008 (n = 50,000). The two outcome measures — any polypharmacy (three or more medications) — and multiclass polypharmacy (three or more medications from different drug classes) increased over time across all three groups. Polypharmacy increased from 9% to 12% for low-income youth; from 18% to 25% in disabled youth; and from 20% to 27% in foster care youth.
Foster care prevention in Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County policy would target foster care
Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 4, 2014 CLEVELAND (AP) — Ohio’s largest county wants to try an experimental approach to keep more children from homeless families out of foster care.
A fundraising model being floated by Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald would give private investors a chance to make some money by helping to expand an existing intervention program, according to the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
Investors would get their money back, plus up to 2 percent interest, if the intervention program hits its performance goals.
The proposal, which is still being developed, would aim to raise between $8 million and $9 million from foundations, banks and other investors.
FitzGerald, a Democratic candidate for governor, said the program could save the county money overall if it can reduce the number of kids in foster care.
Investors’ profits would come from taxpayers, who already pay $35 million for foster care in the county of about 1.2 million residents.
The fundraising method has been called “pay for success” or “social impact bonds.” Lately, it has been attracting interest in the United States within academic, government and philanthropic circles, according to the Northeast Ohio Media Group, which includes The Plain Dealer.
David Merriman, FitzGerald’s deputy chief of staff for human services, said county administration is still developing the benchmarks that would be used to determine whether the investors get their money back.
If county officials approve the proposal, the administration hopes to get everything in place by July.
Legal Aid fellow to advocate for children in foster care and aging out of the system
Dissell, Rachel. Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 3, 2014. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In addition to physical and emotional scars, foster children and those aging out of the system, often face a hidden host of financial, educational and legal problems that can become barriers from leading normal adult lives.
A new Legal Aid Society of Cleveland fellow aims to help some of the region's most vulnerable navigate complex legal issues foisted upon them.
Danielle Godomski-Littleton's work will be funded jointly by the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation and Washington D.C.-based Equal Justice Works.
She aims to step in and advocate for youth whose credit has been ruined by identity fraud. She will help them stand up to landlords who may not be keeping their apartments in safe and healthy conditions. And she will help them navigate their legal rights to housing, medical and other benefits.
Colleen Cotter, executive director at Legal Aid Society, said the project fits in with the agency's mission to secure justice for those who are vulnerable.
"There is no population more vulnerable than youth in or recently aged out of foster care," Cotter said. " I believe that by engaging with these young adults we can serve as the pivot point in their lives. We can show them that they have rights and give them a voice to enforce those rights."
In so many cases, Gadomski-Littleton said, just the paperwork involved with those issues can be so overwhelming that youths give up. Sometimes that means going without insurance, or getting a utility turned on. Other times it can lead to homelessness.
Statistics kept by the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services show on average through October of this year more than 13 kids a month aged out of foster care – which amounts to more than 160 for the year.
Mary Louise Madigan, a spokeswoman for the agency, said those leaving foster care deal with the same hurdles that anyone moving into adulthood does – how to manage finances, housing and medical issues -- except with fewer supports and trustworthy adults in their lives. Sometimes they also want to just get away from the system that has raised them and are hesitant to come back and ask for help.
Gadomski-Littleton said she will get referrals from independent living workers from the county agency and other community agencies that work with children in foster care or those about to leave county care. "I hope to help them start with a more level playing field," she said.
In addition, Gadomski-Littleton will also advocate for children in foster care with special education and immigration issues.
Wish every Ohio county had a Fill This House for foster care alumni
Fill This House, Bay Village nonprofit helps former foster kids make it on their own
Galbinicea, Barb. Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 9, 2014.
BAY VILLAGE, Ohio – Adam Mays can’t believe his eyes.
“All this?” the 18-year-old asks, gesturing to the bags and boxes that pack Laura Geuther’s SUV. There’s a microwave, bedding , dishes, glasses, flatware and more. All of it is brand new.
There’s even a loaf of pumpkin bread baked by Geuther’s mother and, as with every delivery from Fill This House, a nonprofit that helps former foster children, there’s a Bible tucked into one of the bags.
Geuther is the executive director of the grassroots organization, based in Bay Village. The group this year has helped 60 young people like Mays who were in foster care and are now trying to make it on their own.
Experts say that thousands of young people “age out” of foster care systems across the country every year. There are hundreds of them in Northeast Ohio alone. Most are 18, with no family support system.
Mays, an upbeat guy with big dreams, tells Geuther after they tote all the bounty to the second floor on a recent Saturday that he had just moved in the night before to the bare apartment on Cleveland's West Side. There’s no bed, no refrigerator, no stove, not one piece of furniture. He says that after spending most of his life in and out of foster care, he moved in with only his clothes.
Geuther has heard the story before and it’s part of what motivates her and her board to intervene at “what is a pivotal moment in these kids’ lives. They’re either going to go one way or the other.”
The household goods, valued at about $600 per delivery, are accompanied by a healthy dose of support to young people who may have had little of that over their lives.
“Stay in school,” Geuther advises during her delivery to Mays. “Keep plugging away, The rest of your life is a long time.”
Mays nods. “I’m really determined,” he says, confiding that he’d like to go to college to prepare for a career working with animals, maybe as a veterinarian.
Before she leaves, Geuther asks Mays and his friend to join hands with her and pray. She asks God to watch over them, to help them achieve their dreams. Then she and Mays hug.
A fresh start
Alexis Smith is 20 now, and Geuther jokes that Smith is her “ambassador” in Cleveland, telling other young people who have “aged out” of foster care what Fill This House can do for them.
Smith was living with a friend when Geuther’s group, which usually works through caseworkers or other nonprofits, came into her life. “We didn’t have anything,” she said. “We were so excited.”
And it wasn’t just any old stuff. Geuther says she makes it a point to ask to ask those served what colors they like and “everything was brand new,” marvels Smith. “If you spend your life in foster care, you get a lot of hand-me-downs. [Geuther] was just so caring."
Geuther likes to tell the story about how when she delivered the microwave to Smith, her roommate started to take the tag off. Smith stopped her, wanting to preserve the “newness” as long as she could. “You could tell how much it meant to her to have something new,” Geuther said.
Smith now lives in the YWCA’s Independence Place – a haven for homeless kids who have aged out of foster care. She says that during her time in the foster system, she was in 17 different homes and attended 23 schools. But she graduated from high school – the first on her mother’s side of the family, Smith says proudly -- and adds that she’s now within reach of her bachelor’s degree. After that, she’s shooting for a master’s.
She’s not entirely sure what career she wants to pursue, but knows it will be about helping people. “There’s a lot that’s dear to my heart,” she says.
As Smith speaks, Geuther beams. “Good for you,” she says as Smith talks about continuing her education. “I’m so proud of you.”
Filling a house
The opportunity to take over the operation of Fill This House in December 2012 came into Geuther’s life “just as I was praying to find something fulfilling to do,” she says. Liz Tippit, who founded the group in 2007 and remains on the organization’s board, had stepped down and the nonprofit was looking for a new executive director. Geuther stepped up and hasn’t looked back. “When I’m in, I’m in,” she says.
The group, which has no paid staff and no office, raises donations through fundraisers, grants and “showers” like one held recently in Bay. Everyone attending brings a household item to help a former foster child.
On that recent Saturday, the pile in a corner of Fill This House board member Mary Lou Kennedy’s home kept growing as Geuther spread the word about Fill This House to rapt newcomers at the shower. She told them about delivering to young people sleeping on the floor, living in apartments with no water, where the neighborhood seems unsafe, where one obstacle after another seems to present itself.
“These are real kids,” Geuther said, driving home the point of her stories.
It’s especially touching to moms like Barb Sullivan, also a board member, who says she thinks of her own sons and how they would fare entirely on their own at age 18, with no parents to ask for help or advice. Kennedy, also a mom, said she has the same thoughts. “It really touches your heart,” she said.
Added Sullivan: “You realize how blessed we are. And you realize the scars that these kids take with them.”
Board member Dana Hastings says it’s been eye-opening to go on deliveries and see the spare existence facing the former foster children. At one such bare apartment, Hastings recalls, the young woman had a lamp with no shade and a 2-year-old child.
Although Fill This House is based on Christian principles, Geuther said it serves young people regardless of their faith. “There’s a Bible in there,” she tells Mays, pointing to one of the bags she just lugged up the stairs to his apartment. “If you’re not going to use, give it to someone who will.” He says he’ll keep it.
Geuther says there are so many young people like Mays and Smith who need help that Fill This House is trying to broaden its outreach. That goal got a little easier when Great Lakes Computer Corp. offered free warehouse space to store the nonprofit's donations, making it feasible to save money by buying in bulk. Another supporter, Custom Fundraising Solutions, works exclusively with Fill This House to provide mattresses to kids with no beds. As Geuther leaves Mays’ apartment, she lingers on the steps, dispensing some parting advice: Talk to College Now Greater Cleveland about how to pay for college, follow up with your caseworker for a voucher for the Cleveland Furniture Bank and “call me if you need help.”
And, as she says she does at every delivery: “We believe in you and we are praying for you.”
For more information about Fill This House, call Geuther at 216-513-5447 or email lgeuther@fillthishouse.org.
Galbinicea, Barb. Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 9, 2014.
BAY VILLAGE, Ohio – Adam Mays can’t believe his eyes.
“All this?” the 18-year-old asks, gesturing to the bags and boxes that pack Laura Geuther’s SUV. There’s a microwave, bedding , dishes, glasses, flatware and more. All of it is brand new.
There’s even a loaf of pumpkin bread baked by Geuther’s mother and, as with every delivery from Fill This House, a nonprofit that helps former foster children, there’s a Bible tucked into one of the bags.
Geuther is the executive director of the grassroots organization, based in Bay Village. The group this year has helped 60 young people like Mays who were in foster care and are now trying to make it on their own.
Experts say that thousands of young people “age out” of foster care systems across the country every year. There are hundreds of them in Northeast Ohio alone. Most are 18, with no family support system.
Mays, an upbeat guy with big dreams, tells Geuther after they tote all the bounty to the second floor on a recent Saturday that he had just moved in the night before to the bare apartment on Cleveland's West Side. There’s no bed, no refrigerator, no stove, not one piece of furniture. He says that after spending most of his life in and out of foster care, he moved in with only his clothes.
Geuther has heard the story before and it’s part of what motivates her and her board to intervene at “what is a pivotal moment in these kids’ lives. They’re either going to go one way or the other.”
The household goods, valued at about $600 per delivery, are accompanied by a healthy dose of support to young people who may have had little of that over their lives.
“Stay in school,” Geuther advises during her delivery to Mays. “Keep plugging away, The rest of your life is a long time.”
Mays nods. “I’m really determined,” he says, confiding that he’d like to go to college to prepare for a career working with animals, maybe as a veterinarian.
Before she leaves, Geuther asks Mays and his friend to join hands with her and pray. She asks God to watch over them, to help them achieve their dreams. Then she and Mays hug.
A fresh start
Alexis Smith is 20 now, and Geuther jokes that Smith is her “ambassador” in Cleveland, telling other young people who have “aged out” of foster care what Fill This House can do for them.
Smith was living with a friend when Geuther’s group, which usually works through caseworkers or other nonprofits, came into her life. “We didn’t have anything,” she said. “We were so excited.”
And it wasn’t just any old stuff. Geuther says she makes it a point to ask to ask those served what colors they like and “everything was brand new,” marvels Smith. “If you spend your life in foster care, you get a lot of hand-me-downs. [Geuther] was just so caring."
Geuther likes to tell the story about how when she delivered the microwave to Smith, her roommate started to take the tag off. Smith stopped her, wanting to preserve the “newness” as long as she could. “You could tell how much it meant to her to have something new,” Geuther said.
Smith now lives in the YWCA’s Independence Place – a haven for homeless kids who have aged out of foster care. She says that during her time in the foster system, she was in 17 different homes and attended 23 schools. But she graduated from high school – the first on her mother’s side of the family, Smith says proudly -- and adds that she’s now within reach of her bachelor’s degree. After that, she’s shooting for a master’s.
She’s not entirely sure what career she wants to pursue, but knows it will be about helping people. “There’s a lot that’s dear to my heart,” she says.
As Smith speaks, Geuther beams. “Good for you,” she says as Smith talks about continuing her education. “I’m so proud of you.”
Filling a house
The opportunity to take over the operation of Fill This House in December 2012 came into Geuther’s life “just as I was praying to find something fulfilling to do,” she says. Liz Tippit, who founded the group in 2007 and remains on the organization’s board, had stepped down and the nonprofit was looking for a new executive director. Geuther stepped up and hasn’t looked back. “When I’m in, I’m in,” she says.
The group, which has no paid staff and no office, raises donations through fundraisers, grants and “showers” like one held recently in Bay. Everyone attending brings a household item to help a former foster child.
On that recent Saturday, the pile in a corner of Fill This House board member Mary Lou Kennedy’s home kept growing as Geuther spread the word about Fill This House to rapt newcomers at the shower. She told them about delivering to young people sleeping on the floor, living in apartments with no water, where the neighborhood seems unsafe, where one obstacle after another seems to present itself.
“These are real kids,” Geuther said, driving home the point of her stories.
It’s especially touching to moms like Barb Sullivan, also a board member, who says she thinks of her own sons and how they would fare entirely on their own at age 18, with no parents to ask for help or advice. Kennedy, also a mom, said she has the same thoughts. “It really touches your heart,” she said.
Added Sullivan: “You realize how blessed we are. And you realize the scars that these kids take with them.”
Board member Dana Hastings says it’s been eye-opening to go on deliveries and see the spare existence facing the former foster children. At one such bare apartment, Hastings recalls, the young woman had a lamp with no shade and a 2-year-old child.
Although Fill This House is based on Christian principles, Geuther said it serves young people regardless of their faith. “There’s a Bible in there,” she tells Mays, pointing to one of the bags she just lugged up the stairs to his apartment. “If you’re not going to use, give it to someone who will.” He says he’ll keep it.
Geuther says there are so many young people like Mays and Smith who need help that Fill This House is trying to broaden its outreach. That goal got a little easier when Great Lakes Computer Corp. offered free warehouse space to store the nonprofit's donations, making it feasible to save money by buying in bulk. Another supporter, Custom Fundraising Solutions, works exclusively with Fill This House to provide mattresses to kids with no beds. As Geuther leaves Mays’ apartment, she lingers on the steps, dispensing some parting advice: Talk to College Now Greater Cleveland about how to pay for college, follow up with your caseworker for a voucher for the Cleveland Furniture Bank and “call me if you need help.”
And, as she says she does at every delivery: “We believe in you and we are praying for you.”
For more information about Fill This House, call Geuther at 216-513-5447 or email lgeuther@fillthishouse.org.
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