One of Gov. Mike DeWine’s stated objectives on taking office was addressing problems in Ohio’s children’s services, particularly as it relates to foster care. Nevertheless, local foster parents are still greatly needed.
Fixing those problems has to happen with the input of the people on the ground who have experienced the system first-hand, DeWine said in a statement included in a recent report on Ohio’s Children Services. So his Children Services Transformation Advisory Council traveled the state over the course of a year, collecting testimonies and recommendations by people who have experienced the system.
Scott Boone, Knox County Job and Family Services assistant director overseeing Children Services and Child Support, told the Mount Vernon News that the Transformation program holds a lot of promise for local families and children. One section in particular identified the need for improvements to the foster care program on the agency side.
Boone said that the Knox County office has always supported kinship caregivers — family members who foster children rather than placing them with strangers. Additionally, they are working to increase the number of local foster care providers in the county, which ensures that children who have to be separated from their families do not have the situation compounded by having to be sent out of the county as well.
“We’ve done everything that we could to grow our foster care network,” Boone told the News. “When I started here about five years ago, we had about five foster families, and now we’re approaching 25.”
Unfortunately, at the same time, the need for foster care providers has increased as well. From 30 children in foster care when Boone started in Knox County, the number has ballooned to 112.
“And that’s actually down from 120-130, where we’ve been up for the past two or three years,” he said.
Boone estimated that 20% of the children the agency is responsible for are currently being fostered by family members.
One of the things identified in the report was the importance of giving foster caregivers a voice throughout the process, Boone noted.
“Whether it’s at court hearings, whether it’s after the placement — or even more important, before the placements occur — we need to be talking more to the kids and the other people and extended family, to get a better idea of what those supportive mechanisms look like,” he said.
While Boone said he is hopeful the State’s efforts will bear good fruit, nothing DeWine does can create more community support for children. That is up to the people of Knox County.
Anyone interested in finding out more about becoming a foster parent can reach out to Ray Guajardo of Knox County Job and Family Services at 740-399-3039 or by email at Raymond.Guajardo@jfs.ohio.gov.
Information can also be found on the State’s website at fosterandadopt.jfs.ohio.gov.
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