'No place to go': Portage County seeks to solve the placement crisis for kids

A 10-year-old girl with autism, along with a "hero team" of staff at Portage County Job and Family Services, spent a holiday weekend at a hospital because the girl had no other place to go.

Portage County doesn't have a place for emergency, short-term placement in cases like these, but that could change, thanks to a bill pending in the Ohio Statehouse, state Rep. Gail Pavliga said.

Pavliga discussed her bill at the county's first Summit on Kids, which took place last week at the NEW Center at Northeast Ohio Medical University. Kellijo Jeffries, director of Portage County Job and Family Services, and Judge Patricia Smith of the Portage County Juvenile Court created the event after attending a similar event in Columbus.

They invited Jessica Chandler, a California social worker who spoke at the Columbus event about her experience growing up in the foster system, to be the keynote speaker.

A place for kids to go

The event honored Portage County's 25 foster families, gave updates from Job and Family Services and the juvenile court, and included an update on Pavliga's Child Stabilization Act. The bill provides a licensing procedure for short-term, emergency placement of children.

Pavliga said she's also working with Coleman Professional Services on a $2.5 million funding request to upgrade Coleman's facility in Portage County so it can house children. The facility would keep a few beds open at all times for emergency placements. The funding, which is part of Ohio's bi-annual state budget, is her "top financial ask," Pavliga said.

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Jeffries said the center would alleviate the need to have children on social holds in emergency rooms while placement is secured. It also would give a caregiver time to get support in place so a child could go home.

Pavliga said her committee spent a year and a half working on the bill before bringing it to the House. The bill now needs to go through the committee process.

"Too often, we are hearing about dedicated social workers who are spending the night in an agency office because the child has no place to go," she said.

Jeffries said situations like the one Pavliga described are "all too real," mentioning the girl who was sent to the hospital after a crisis.

"On several occasions over the last year, we have had children entrusted in our custody go into a hospital emergency room for crisis needs, who are formally discharged by the hospital but remain at the hospital on a courtesy social hold until a placement is secured," she said. "This can be days, and a few times in the last year it was over one week. Our social workers rotate shifts around the clock to stay with the child until placement is secured."

Jeffries said she is excited about the grant request and Pavliga's bill, and hopes both will be approved quickly.

"If this bill would pass, there would be no wrong door for a child to enter," she said. "The streamlined licensure will allow facilities to serve multi-system children."

A statewide crisis

Last year, a group representing public children's services agencies in Ohio said local agencies are experiencing a placement crisis and are caring for an increasing number of children with developmental disabilities, mental health issues and delinquency. 

The report from the Public Children Services Association of Ohio outlined the placement crisis. In mid-December 2021, the association surveyed child welfare agencies in Portage and 18 other counties, including Summit and Stark.

Of the 4,242 children who entered care in those counties in 2021, 393 children, or 9.3%, came from the juvenile justice system, according to the report. Another 512 youth, or 12.1%, entered for behavioral health reasons, and 19 children, or 2.4%, entered from the developmental disabilities system. 

"This survey demonstrates that 24% of youth come into care primarily due to severe behavioral health needs, significant developmental/intellectual disabilities, or as a diversion from juvenile corrections," the report states. Unless specific concerns are addressed, the report says, "it is hard to see how children services will move beyond its current role as the system of last resort for children and families."

Portage County has a group home for teenagers, which was designed to reduce the county's reliance on residential treatment centers that are located hours away. However, the group home doesn't house every teenager in the county's custody. 

Many needs, not enough options

Portage County has 178 children in the custody of Job and Families Services, Jeffries said. Her department's biggest challenge, as well as that of the child welfare system in Ohio, relates to children with "multi-system needs," or those who need psychiatric services, have developmental disabilities or who are involved in the juvenile justice system.

If one of those children has a mental health crisis, services are sought through a crisis office or emergency room. Sometimes, caregivers are unable or unwilling to take the child back into their home or facility when they are discharged because of the child's needs, she said.

"For children with developmental disabilities, we have few foster homes and group home options in Portage County for children that have a diagnosis that meets the developmental disability criteria with the most complex needs," she said.

She explained that some of those children are nonverbal, not potty trained or are aggressive with themselves or others.

There is one developmental care center in the area, which has a waiting list.

"Children that are juvenile justice-involved and struggling with delinquent behaviors rarely get accepted by foster homes, and are typically placed in group homes or residential facilities outside of Portage County," she said.

Jeffries said the department has 11 foster families pending and is hoping to recruit more who are open to taking children working with multiple systems. The department is willing to provide additional training and support and will offer such families an additional $25 per day to take children in those circumstances.

A meeting with foster families will take place June 15, and those interested in fostering can call Placement Supervisor Shawn Kelly at 330-715-0387.

Giving kids a voice

Jeffries said other collaborative projects are in the works, including a youth council.

Smith said she has started to invite children into her courtroom when proceedings affect them. The youth, she said, are aware their cases are being discussed and are upset they are being shielded from the hearings.

"They feel like they don't have a voice," she said. "We make sure every person who comes into our court is heard."

Chandler, who remembered talking to Smith and Jeffries about the changes they wanted to make, said she was impressed that some of those changes were taking place.

"I'm so proud of you guys," she said.

From foster child to social worker, adoptive mom

Chandler entered the foster system at age 12 when she was caught shoplifting groceries to feed her siblings. She ended up aging out of the foster system and became homeless on her 18th birthday just before graduation.

Because of an advocacy program, she ended up getting her master's degree in social work. In addition to her son, she took in a foster daughter, whom she later adopted.

Chandler said when her daughter first came to her, the girl would often wake up crying in the middle of the night. She remembers taking her through the entire house, turning on the lights to prove monsters were not real.

"What if Mommy and Daddy were the monsters, and the monsters were real?" she asked.

Chandler encouraged those in attendance at the Summit on Kids to "become stakeholders" and invest themselves in the lives of the children in their lives.

"I bet things will change if it's your problem," she said.

Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.