2023 OHIO YAB Cuyahoga County Presentation
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This document discusses youth concerns about proposed solutions to challenges in Cuyahoga County's out-of-home care system. Youth question whether spending $27,000 on keycards or assigning a sheriff's deputy will truly safeguard youth. They also worry proposed placements may not have adequate services or oversight. Youth propose alternative solutions like trauma-informed training and life skills programs. Creating videos about fostering and adoption could help recruitment where increasing wages alone may not.
2023 OHIO YAB Cuyahoga County Presentation
- 1. Youth Concerns and Proposed Solutions: Working to Address Challenges In Cuyahoga County
- 2. We exist to be the knowledgeable statewide voice that influences policies and practices that impact youth who have or will experience out of home care. OHIO YAB Mission
- 4. Benefits of Involving Youth Lived experience Sense of Urgency Ability to connect with peers
- 5. Detriments of Not Including Youth Undertow of the status quo Slow-moving progress Lack of long- term effectiveness
- 6. Timeline
- 8. Transparency and Community Partnership
- 9. County-Proposed Solutions Youth Concerns and Questions Spending $27,000 on keycards for stairways? This doesn’t safeguard youth. Issuing an RFP with a “No eject or reject” policy Risks creating a dumping ground; concerns about placing youth with pending charges with those with specialized needs? Asking Cleveland Christian Home to hold eight beds for emergency county placements. Will eight beds be enough? According to reports, there are an average of 6- 12 youth spending nights in the Jane Edna building. What services, including therapy, and oversight will be provided? How long will youth stay there?
- 10. County-Proposed Solutions Youth Concerns and Questions Increasing wages to make Cuyahoga County workers the highest paid in the state. Money might bring in initial applicants, but will they stay? What will be done to improve day-to-day working conditions? Where is the accountability for Cuyahoga County Administration? It doesn’t make sense to take staff members off the child abuse hotline to monitor youth, just because they are the only ones in the building 24/7. Why weren’t other staff hired/allocated to fulfill this role?
- 11. County-Proposed Solutions Youth Concerns and Questions Assigning a sheriff’s deputy to the building full-time. This could be harmful or helpful, depending on how it’s rolled out. What is the deputy’s role? Will the deputy be restraining youth? Arresting youth? Keeping them from leaving the building? Will the deputy be trained in trauma-informed care and crisis prevention? The county is drafting plans to convert the Metzenbaum Center into a residential drop-off site where youth can receive services while awaiting placement. This is coming full circle to this building’s prior role. What measures will be put in place to keep youth from staying there too long? Will there be trauma-screening, and therapists onsite? What will be done to ensure accountability, child safety, and proper supervision?
- 12. County-Proposed Solutions Youth Concerns and Questions The county is working with law enforcement agencies to draft a protocol for what steps officers must take before turning over a child to county custody, including de-escalation tactics that might allow a child to remain at home. Does this risk of undermining the role of law enforcement as mandated reporters? What if the child feels unsafe in their biological home? Ohio Revised Code: Section 2151.022. Taking a child into custody. By a law enforcement officer or duly authorized officer of the court when any of the following conditions are present… There are reasonable grounds to believe that the child is in immediate danger from the child's surroundings and that the child's removal is necessary to prevent immediate or threatened physical or emotional harm; There are reasonable grounds to believe that a parent, guardian, custodian, or other household member of the child's household has abused or neglected another child in the household and to believe that the child is in danger of immediate or threatened physical or emotional harm from that person.
- 13. *Addressing and Preventing Child Abuse in Cuyahoga County: Toward a Coordinated Approach, Case Western Reserve University, Schubert Center for Child Studies, released April 2021
- 14. *Addressing and Preventing Child Abuse in Cuyahoga County: Toward a Coordinated Approach, Case Western Reserve University, Schubert Center for Child Studies, released April 2021
- 15. Benefits of Involving Youth Trauma- Informed Training Life Skills Preparation Foster Parent Recruitment Videos
- 17. Youth have proposed following up on Life Skills pathway designed by youth for foster parents by creating one for caseworkers
- 18. OHIO YAB Ambassador Jewel’s video about the rewards of fostering teenagers
- 19. OHIO YAB adoptees share the journey and joy of their “chosen family”
- 20. OHIO YAB Ambassador Kelsie’s three-part video series on Teen Moms in Foster Care
Editor's Notes
- #18: Life Skills: Essential Elements of Interdependence – A Learning Pathway for Resource Families was created by the Ohio University Consortium for Child and Adult Services (OUCCAS), in collaboration with the Overcoming Hurdles in Ohio Youth Advisory Board (OHIO YAB) and ACTION Ohio. Courses and activities within this professional development pathway will help foster parents and kinship caregivers gain necessary knowledge and skills to assist youth skill development, which will promote a successful transition to interdependence. Youth voice has been, and remains, key in the creation and continued development of the Life Skills Pathway. ACTION Ohio is facilitating the voices of youth in the following areas: Identifying the Essential Elements of Interdependence Mapping out Essential Resources for each category Designing badges for each category, thanks to the artistic talents of Ashley Williams Creating a Menu of Life Skills Activities for caregivers to share with youth at home Vetting existing trainings to determine whether or not they are eligible for a training badge Youth-approved workshops within this pathway include: Financial Preparation and Support for Foster Youth ~ led by Cece Norwood and Michael Outrich Getting Teens Ready for the World of Work ~ led by Anthony President Housing Resources for Former Foster Youth ~ led by Cece Norwood and Michael Outrich Resources and Partnership Building to Improve Post-Secondary Outcomes for Foster Youth ~ led by Cece Norwood and Michael Outrich Tools for Takeoff: Independent Living Transition Planning ~ led by Brian and Kathy Lowery Vital Records Access for Youth Transitioning Out of Care ~ led by Amanda Davis and Jill Roberts