CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ohio’s child welfare advocates are concerned after the Ohio Senate cut $61.35 million in proposed funding for children services from the state budget bill, potentially threatening innovative programs designed to address the foster care placement crisis, including in Cuyahoga County.
Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget added $31 million over the next two years to the Child Protection Allocation fund, which helps counties cover the rising costs of foster care, kinship care and residential care due to placement shortages. He also included a one-time $30 million investment to create regional child wellness campuses — modeled after Cuyahoga County’s campus at The Centers — to expand housing options, keep children closer to home and prevent them from sleeping in county offices.
The Ohio House retained the funding in its budget version, and called for a study to show which Ohio communities could sustainably operate those regional facilities…