TOLEDO, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine spent part of his State of the State address this week highlighting Sandusky, Seneca, Ottawa and Wyandot counties for partnering to create special treatment foster homes.
He said the pilot programs will help children with the most complex needs stay out of group homes and get into a family home. DeWine said more than 1,800 foster children are living in group settings because there aren't enough foster families willing or comfortable to help with children who have complex needs.
Yet, the four counties have created a money-saving program that can be replicated statewide, allowing for more specialized treatment homes in Ohio.
"A new pilot program that will help more counties to recruit and support special treatment foster homes by providing one-on-one support for families, 24/7 on-call casework and crisis counseling, and specialized training," DeWine said.
Randy Muth, executive director of Lucas County Children Services, applauded DeWine's efforts but said the new program will not affect more populated counties like Lucas.
"Lucas County was the first county in the state to license treatment foster homes," he said. "The reason we could do that was because we're a much larger county. We had a much more robust and continuous need for children to have that level of care."
Melanie Allen, director of Sandusky County Children Services, said teaming up with fellow rural counties has helped create homes they could only dream about.
"We have seven treatment foster homes within our collaboration right now, which is more than I anticipated. I was hoping for two," she said. "Then we got more than that and we're going to continue to grow as the needs for our children continue to grow."
Both Allen and Muth said they're overjoyed that community and state efforts have helped their causes. When it comes to larger counties, though, more work still needs to be done.
"We have about 400 children that need to be placed in agency foster homes and we don't have anywhere near that amount," Muth said.
Allen said while fostering can be difficult, you don't have to be perfect.
"It's not for the faint at heart. I can't say that any of these cases are easy," she said. "But you don't have to be rich. You don't have to know everything because none of us do as parents. You just have to have the heart for it."
For more information about foster, adoption and kinship Care in Ohio, click here.