For children in foster care, their fate may be decided by a room full of adults they barely know. The required court hearing takes less than an hour. They’re not present, and their name is not even mentioned.
But in Portage County, that has now changed, said Juvenile Court Judge Patricia Smith during the recent annual Summit on Kids.
Held at NEOMED’s NEW Center, this year’s summit took place on Aug. 1. The event highlights new programs and initiatives meant to improve the lives of vulnerable and at-risk youths and their families.
Smith outlined new procedures in Portage County Juvenile Court hearings, where more questions are being asked about the child’s physical and mental health, educational needs and family time. To reduce or eliminate the need for continuances, all hearings take place in the courtroom, with all parties present.
Court entries now include the parents’ case plan objectives, progress, concerns and the child’s welfare, and one judge, instead of several, presides over all cases for a given child.
Smith outlined the new procedure as one of several her court recently implemented.
Case managers now assist the court in ensuring timely permanency: a permanent, stable, living situation for children in foster care, ideally with family connections. The case managers work with the families and community partners and provide Smith with regular updates.
The court also now provides an array of clinical services and a holistic, family-centered approach to youths and families involved with the juvenile court system.
Thanks to more than $1 million in grant allocations, people on probation can now take advantage of five new programs: Cognitive Behavioral Interventions for Substance Abuse, Townhall II’s Active Parenting Program, Pro-Social Activities, the King-Kennedy Center Mentoring Program and a Victim Reimbursement Program.
The court also added an at-risk truancy program and reduced barriers to meeting with youths and their families. Its R.O.O.T.S. (Rehabilitation, Opportunity, Outreach, Treatment and Support) counseling program, implemented by Psychiatric Services Director Darla Scott, provides comprehensive clinical services to youths who are involved with the juvenile justice system but who are not otherwise service-connected and have faced barriers to treatment.
Four other local agencies also announced new programs and initiatives during the summit.
Job and Family Services
Job and Family Services of Portage County oversees public assistance, child support enforcement, child and adult protective services and OhioMeansJobs Portage County. Its mission is to help children and their families, as well as senior adults.
In 2023, JFS handled 3,397 calls about abuse, neglect and families in need of services. The agency completed 828 intakes. Portage County Children’s Services saw, serviced or helped 1,675 youths. Some 300 youths in need of safe, stable living environments were placed in alternative settings, an effort that cost JFS more than $5.5 million.
New as of April 3 is child support for primary caregivers of children who are not their own. Before House Bill 83, which Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine included in the 2024-25 state budget, caretakers had to have legal custody of a minor child to receive child support payments from the parents.
The need for HB 83 arose when Ohio lawmakers realized that many adults who have physical custody of minor children lack the financial means to obtain legal custody. Adults who believe they may qualify for this program can contact JFS at 330-297-3791.
Also new is JFS’s childcare choice voucher program, which helps families that qualify afford quality child care. Family income levels may exceed the state’s cut-off for publicly funded child care.
DeWine created the voucher program in April to help families that are over-income for the state’s publicly funded childcare program and whose gross monthly income is at or below 146-200% of the federal poverty level. Even with that income, childcare costs are often prohibitive.
JFS’s family engagement center on Chestnut Street in Ravenna, gained a new full-time driver to transport children to and from visits, counseling and medical appointments. The center is meant to support more parenting time opportunities between parents and children.
JFS also recently gained new contracts with Children’s Advantage for art therapy and leased a property where certain teens with developmental disabilities may be safely placed.
Additionally, JFS is newly partnered with Goodwill Industries to provide two programs. A Goodwill Parenting Program focuses on in-home parenting training and support while a Home-Based Parenting Plus Program helps parents improve the home’s safety, develop a structured environment and establish a plan to prevent future involvement with child protective services.
And JFS is also now able to provide income-based services for parents, noncustodial parents and legal guardians who are required to have supervised parenting time.
Mental Health and Recovery Board
The Mental Health and Recovery Board of Portage County will break ground on a new crisis center this fall. Meant to replace Coleman Health Service’s current crisis center on Lovers Lane in Ravenna, the facility will feature a step-down unit with 10 single beds with private bathrooms and will have space for residents to double up, if necessary.
Also new will be four children’s rooms. The children’s rooms, separate from the adult spaces, will allow each child’s caregiver to stay with them during what board Executive Director John Garrity termed a “critical time.”
As they do now, clients will be able to stay in the step-down unit for up to two weeks as an alternative to hospitalization, Garrity said.
New to Portage County, and providing a local alternative to emergency department and psychiatric hospitalization admissions, will be a 23-hour involuntary hold unit for adults and children. (Twenty-three hours, because Ohio law stipulates that people held for 24 hours must be transferred to a hospital.)
The unit is meant to provide clients with a safe environment, while immediately relieving their crisis symptoms. It will allow staff to observe clients, determine appropriate care levels and deflect from unnecessary higher levels of care, Garrity said.
Coleman Health Services will staff the crisis center, providing psychiatric care and an on-site nurse who can handle some of the clients’ medical needs. This staffing will relieve the “almost constant” use of UH Portage’s emergency department, Garrity said.
Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities
The Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities now offers respite care in a Ravenna facility and a private home in Kent. Both options reduce gaps in Portage County’s service system and could prevent out-of-home placements, said Board of Developmental Disabilities Superintendent John Vennetti.
Buckeye Residential Solutions is open varying hours six days a week. The private home, which opened in January 2023, welcomes two youths who can stay overnight, for a weekend or longer, either for planned or emergency visits.
Combined, the two respite options help families and service providers cope with kids with developmental disabilities, Vennetti said.
“Kids with more challenging needs end up being placed in another county or another state,” Vennetti said. “Those are costly and, a lot of times, ineffective bandaids. We want kids and parents to be able to thrive here in Portage County.”
Family and Community Services
Working with the Ohio Family and Children First (OCFC) initiative, FCS staff recently completed a youth sequential intercept map, or SIM. Each SIM is meant to identify the county’s service strengths and weaknesses, and to bolster what is needed, youth program manager Melissa Marzek said.
Marzek also announced a new county-wide Youth Council filled by youths and young adults aged 14-24. Members influence local services and express concerns related to their generation, all the while building upon critical life skills like communication, teamwork, networking and leadership.
The Second Annual Summit on Kids was sponsored by Portage County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge Patricia J. Smith, Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County, Family & Community Services, Inc., CASA of Portage County, and Portage County Job & Family Services.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.