Since the pandemic, the number of foster parents that Lucas County Children Services has at its disposal has been pretty much “cut in half,” said Rebecca Yarnell, licensing supervisor for Children Services.
“Pre-COVID, the numbers were stable, but really, since COVID, we’ve lost more than probably half of our resources that we had,” she said. “When I say resources, I’m referring to foster homes and stuff like that. We had a significant number of homes that shut down during COVID.”
To help grow the pool of local foster parents, now known as resource families by the state, LCCS will start hosting its online preservice training series through the Northwest Ohio Regional Training Center starting this weekend…