Ohio Admits Child Welfare Not Working

Ohio is the next state to stand up and admits it child welfare system does not work.  In this instance the state is providing subsidy to families to take in relatives instead of dumping the kids in high-priced, low-quality state care.

This is actually, dare I say, creating jobs and stimulating the economy.

State may allow the families to receive foster-care money

Ohio might join other states in giving some foster-care money to relatives who take in family members’ children

For Regene Denton to become the grandparent of her dreams — retired, relaxed, happy to host and spoil the grandkids occasionally — she would have had to allow seven of them to go into foster care. 

“I run into a lot of people who say, ‘You’re crazy,’  ’’ said Denton, who now has legal custody of four girls and three boys ages 1 to 13 years. 

She and her husband, Paul, are tired, pressed for money and certain they did the right thing.

“I guess some people do turn away,” Mrs. Denton said. “We couldn’t.”

As child-welfare agencies in Ohio and throughout the nation work to increase such kinship placements as the preferred alternative to foster care, advocates say the families need more financial support to manage households that double, triple or even quadruple overnight.

Thirty states now have kinship-guardian assistance programs that allow the families to receive foster-care money. Ohio is considering joining them.

“We know that kids do better in a family setting,” said Chip Spinning, executive director of Franklin County Children Services. “They have better outcomes, do better in school. But some of our families don’t have the financial resources to take care of them.”

The federal Fostering Connections Act approved in 2008 authorized states to start kinship-subsidy programs. Kinship caregivers generally have to meet state foster-parent licensing requirements to obtain the subsidies. But, supporters note, the federal program also allows states to waive some of the nonsafety and health requirements case by case.

“You can’t waive criminal-background checks or histories of child abuse or neglect,” said Crystal Ward Allen, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. “What you could waive for the families are a lot of our rigid foster-care rules about things like bedroom size, closet space, window specifications.”

Spokesman Benjamin Johnson said the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has not made a formal recommendation. About 63 percent of the money for kinship subsidies would come from the federal government, with the rest a mix of state and local funds.

He and Allen said a study group is considering a maximum monthly benefit of $300 per child.

Spinning said there’s no doubt that the program would be cheaper than foster care. The average monthly cost to the Franklin County agency to keep one child in paid care is about $3,500 a month, he said. Over the course of a yearlong placement, the total is close to $44,000.

“It’s wonderful that Ohio is considering this,” said Jennifer Miller of ChildFocus, a national child-welfare policy and research firm. “You’re saving in terms of court oversight, monthly visits, multiple foster-care moves, many things.”

Families such as the Dentons do receive some financial assistance. The state’s Kinship Permanency Incentive Program provides an initial benefit of $450 per child and an ongoing benefit of up to five payments of $250. But it ends after three years.

Families also are often eligible for child-only welfare money, which is about $268 a month for one child. The incremental increase for multiple children is relatively small, Allen said. For a third child, it’s about $73 a month.

That’s why families who take in sibling groups would benefit most under a kinship-assistance program that draws from foster funds. The Dentons took custody of five of their grandchildren, who belong to one of their sons, about five years ago. Two children of another son were placed with them recently.

Mrs. Denton said she and her husband, a retired custodian, receive about $1,600 in food stamps and cash to care for the children. The East Side couple also have two teenage grandsons living with them — a daughter’s children — who were not officially placed by Children Services.

“We have a little bitty house, but we make it work,” said Mrs. Denton, 57. “The kids are happy. I don’t let them see me sweat.”

Mr. Denton, 62, has built makeshift clothing racks, and the family uses lots of plastic storage bins. Bedrooms are full. Mrs. Denton constantly worries about Christmas.

But she believes that the children will fare better under her wing than in a foster system where stability is often elusive.

The Dentons say they’re grateful for the help they’ve received so far from the state and Children Services. If no more comes, they won’t waver. “Some of these kids want to be doctors and lawyers,”

Mrs. Denton said, laughing. “We’re pretty busy.”

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