Policy
ORC § 2151.412 requires the agency and court to be guided by the following placement priorities:
• If both parents of the child have abandoned the child, have relinquished custody of the child, have become incapable of supporting or caring for the child even with reasonable assistance, or have a detrimental effect on the health, safety, and best interest of the child, the child should be placed in the legal custody of the child’s extended family.
• If a child has no suitable member of the child’s extended family to accept legal custody, the child should be placed in the legal custody of a suitable nonrelative.
• If a child has no suitable member of the child’s extended family to accept legal custody of the child and no suitable nonrelative is available to accept legal custody of the child, the child should be placed in the temporary custody of the PCSA or PCPA.
When agencies are awarded temporary custody of a child they continue to attempt to locate maternal and paternal relatives who may be willing to assume temporary custody or guardianship of the child (OAC 5101:2-42-05). Agencies shall select a substitute care setting that is consistent with the best interest and special needs of the child and which is considered the least restrictive setting. A home of a suitable relative is considered the least restrictive setting compared to a home of a suitable non-relative, a foster home, a group home, or a children’s residential center. Only when an agency determines that a child's mental, physical or emotional needs indicate that a less-restrictive setting cannot address his or her needs, may the agency place the child in a more restrictive setting. Relative homes go through a home assessment/approval process prior to placement of a child in PCSA custody with the relative (OAC 5101:2-42-18).
The Kinship Permanency Incentive Program was established to provide assistance to relatives and other kinship caregivers to defray the costs of initial placement. This program is designed to help relatives and kinship caregivers become guardians and custodians of minors (OAC 5101:2-40-04).
Practice
Locating and assessing relatives as potential placement options are common practice activities for PCSA staff. Relatives are considered as a placement resource each time a child enters foster care and each time a move to a different placement location is considered. If reunification is no longer likely, an alternative permanency plan is developed. At the time an agency seeks to secure permanent custody of a child, preference is given to relatives for adoptive placement.
Changes in Performance and Practice
As a result of the PIP, Technical Assistance from the National Resource Center on Foster Care and Permanency Planning was requested and began during the fourth quarter. The National Resource Center conducted a preliminary dialogue with all applicable state level staff that provide technical assistance to PCSAs. Concurrent planning and family engagement sessions were held. Additionally, the National Resource Center conducted a trainer’s workshop on involving fathers in case planning and engaging the family in group decision making. As part of the family engagement component, involvement of paternal relatives in the process was addressed.
Concurrent planning information was provided to ODJFS staff responsible for developing the Request for Proposal for Ohio’s Child Welfare Training Program curriculum.
Casework Practices and Resource Issues
Most PCSAs assess potential kin support early in the assessment/investigation activities of a case.
Establishing paternity can be difficult and time consuming. Some agencies incorporate paternity establishment as a regular activity early in the life of a case. This practice is helpful in avoiding future delays that could impact the child’s permanency.
Regional or County Issues Local Snapshots
Some Ohio courts (Clermont, Hamilton) prefer to grant “legal custody” to relatives rather than temporary or permanent custody. At times, this benefits caregivers if relatives are eligible for Kinship Permanency Incentive Program funds.
Some county courts (Morrow County) prefer to grant temporary custody to relatives. At times, legal custody may be granted, but it may take a prolonged time period, making it more difficult for the child to achieve permanency and the relative home to access support funding.
The Title IV-E Waiver (ProtectOhio) has provided an incentive for some ProtectOhio counties to focus on identifying and supporting kinship caregivers in formal and informal ways. The goal of the Kinship component of the Title IV-E waiver is to improved outcomes for children, including fewer incidents of substantiated abuse or neglect, shorter length of time in PCSA custody, and reduce re-entry to foster care. The following counties are participating in the Kinship Strategy: Ashtabula, Greene, Lorain, Medina, Muskinghum and Portage. The kinship strategy involves identifying and recruiting kinship caregivers, as well as providing them with services to maintain the placement. Three counties used Family Team Meetings to gather information on kin. Participating counties offer a variety of services to support kin.
Other counties are using funding to develop specialized positions within the agency to support kinship caregivers or train staff to work with kinship caregivers. Designated kinship staff help maintain placements by assisting kinship caregivers as they apply for DJFS services, attend multi-system meetings, obtain legal custody, and access community services (i.e., respite care).
Searches for Paternal and Maternal Relatives
Genograms are used widely throughout the State to conduct relative searches. A genogram is a pictorial display of a child's family relationships and medical history. It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. It can be used to identify repetitive patterns of behavior and to recognize hereditary tendencies. The Genogram maps out relationships and traits that may otherwise be missed on a pedigree chart.
Genograms contain a wealth of information on the families represented. First, they contain basic data found in family trees such as the name, gender, date of birth, and date of death of each individual.
Additional data may include education, occupation, major life events, chronic illnesses, social behaviors, nature of family relationships, emotional relationships, and social relationships. Some Genograms also include information on disorders running in the family such as alcoholism, depression, diseases, alliances, and living situations. Genograms can vary significantly because there is no limitation on what type of data can be included.
Evaluation
According to the 2000 Census Data, 185,443 Ohio children live with their grandparents. In 86,000 Ohio households with children, the grandparent is the primary caregiver.
Ohio agencies try to place children with relatives, whenever appropriate, so that the child can preserve connections with family and friends. The chart below demonstrates how Ohio agencies placed children with relatives and non-relatives in 2006 and 2007. Data results are somewhat limited, as only certified foster family relatives are counted. The majority of relatives are “approved” by PCSAs for placement, but
are not included in this chart. Other situations involve relatives who provide care for children by agreement with the parents who may maintain legal custody of the child. These arrangements are also not reflected in data results.
Placement Types for Children in Care POINT-IN-TIME
PERMANENCY PROFILE
Federal FY 2006ab 12-Month Period Ending 03/31/2007
Source: Ohio Child and Family Services Review Data Profile: February 12, 2008
Strengths and Promising Approaches
As discussed in prior sections, Ohio’s Biennial Budget (HB 66) established the Kinship Permanency Incentive (KPI) program to promote permanency when kinship caregiver(s) become guardians and custodians for minor children who would otherwise be unsafe or at risk of harm in their own homes. KPI provides time-limited incentive payments to families caring for kin. Eligible families receive an initial payment of $1,000 per child to defray costs of initial placement and may receive five hundred dollars per child at six month intervals to support the stability of the child's placement in the home ($3,500 limit). As of June 30, 2007, there were 2,726 KPI approvals for kinship children living with relatives.
KPI was revised in July 2007 as a result of Am. Sub. HB 119. OAC 5101:2-40-04 was revised to reflect the changes and became effective on July 2, 2007. Changes include:
• Removal of the requirement that the child must be adjudicated by the juvenile court as being abused, neglected, dependent, or unruly.
• Removal of the best interest language as part of the requirement for the court order awarding legal custody or guardianship to the kinship caregiver.
• Removal of the requirement that the child must be determined as "special needs".
• Amending the guidelines governing the gross income of the caregiver's family, including the child, from 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines to 300 percent.
With these changes (expanding eligibility and two year re-determinations), SFY 2008 data indicate program utilization has more than doubled.
Additionally, Ohio enacted a law allowing grandparents to obtain authorization to enroll dependent grandchildren in school and to consent to medical care. This legislation, known as the Grandparent Caretaker Law (Substitute House Bill 130), became effective on July 20, 2004. The law permits grandparents to file either a Power of Attorney (POA) or a Caregiver Authorization Affidavit (CAA). These legal documents assist Grandparent Caregivers who have physical, (but not judicially awarded), custody of their grandchildren. When properly completed, notarized and filed with the court, these documents assist grandparents with: enrolling grandchildren in school and participating as the parent; and accessing routine and emergency medical and dental care. According to the H.B. 130 evaluation completed by Wright State University's Center for Healthy Communities, "…stakeholders differed in their opinions about many aspects of the Grandparent Caretaker Law, the majority agreed that the law has provided a convenient method for grandparent caregivers to obtain a legal way to enroll children in school and provide them with medical care."
ODJFS also publishes a statewide kinship family resource guide describing local support and kinship services/resources. The guide was updated in March 2007 and released to the public.
To assist relatives financially for costs related to providing care for kin, some counties offer daycare vouchers to kinship caregivers. Counties have varying policies, Hamilton County provides vouchers to kinship caregivers as long as the case is “open” with the PCSA and the kinship caregiver meets the 150%
federal income level guidelines.
ODJFS collaborates with the Statewide Kinship Care Advisory Board and the Statewide Grandparents/Kinship Coalition (OGKC). The Kinship Care Advisory Board is comprised of representatives from public and private child caring agencies, ODJFS, Area Agencies on Aging, Ohio Family and Children First, Legal Aid, and kinship caregivers. The Advisory Board continues to meet quarterly to discuss and evaluate Ohio’s Kinship Care Program and provide recommendations and feedback to the Director of ODJFS. OGKC is an organization for grandparents and agency representatives to support grandparents and other kin who are raising children. This organization brings kinship caregivers and agencies together for the purpose of sharing information and resources as well as advocating for all kinship caregivers.
The ProtectOhio Kinship component, with its rigorous evaluation methodology, will assist Ohio in identifying critical methods to locating and supporting kin.
Barriers
Court practices differ in terms of granting “temporary” versus “legal” custody to relatives. Some counties report children may experience permanency delays and caregivers may be ineligible for support funds depending upon custody determinations and eligibility criteria for supportive services.
Many relatives and kinship caregivers advocate for a statewide subsidized guardianship program that would provide monthly financial assistance (similar to a foster care per diem). Due to budget constraints and current financial assistance for kinship caregivers, this is not an option for Ohio at this time.
Funding of the Kinship Navigator Program is implemented based upon “county” discretion. State funding is needed to broaden the program statewide (as was done in previous years). The Kinship Navigator Program is responsible for providing outreach to the community; identifying the caregiver population;
assessing their needs; providing information to kinship caregivers about available community services, including legal services, training, respite care, child care and financial assistance; and assisting them in accessing services. As of March 2006, there were approximately 38 counties that continued to operate a Kinship Navigator Program. While many of the current Kinship Navigators are housed within the local PCSA, other counties house Navigators in various community service agencies (i.e., Area Office on Aging, Community Action).