Scioto County Commission Chairman Scottie Powell said he struggled with the idea of giving Scioto County Children Services money without seeing real change first. “I don’t know if I see it. I see plans and things we’d like to see.” He suggested it might be time to change the structure of the agency and even mentioned the possibility of having a private agency handle CPS.
Powell said it might be time to consider having the agency managed through Jobs and Family Services with the board perhaps acting in an advisory role as it was hard to manage a crisis with consensus. “When you talk about giving an organization $2 million and us not have control over the solution, it’s where I struggle.”
Former Portsmouth Mayor and current Children Services Board member, Kevin E. Johnson, asked Powell what he would do differently and which decisions of the board he questioned. Powell said that he would like to study and analyze how matters are handled in other counties before coming up with specific recommendations.
Commissioners Approve $2 Million
Despite Powell’s, misgivings, Scioto County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve $2 million additional dollars in funding for Scioto County Children’s Services. The embattled agency is facing a $2 million shortfall for 2022. There are close to 400 children in CPS care, double the number of children under the agency’s supervision just two years ago.
With only 24 foster families qualified through the agency, they are forced to use outside agencies to place children, which doubles the cost of the care. Scioto County Commissioner Scottie Powell warned that the agency may need even more money. “If the number of kids go up, quite honestly that could be a higher number. If we’re successful in our efforts, that number could be lower.”
Powell said that the projection of a $2 million shortfall is based on the number of children in care staying the same and funding staying the same.
Scioto County Children Services Board members attended Thursday’s meeting and Powell noted that they took the situation seriously. “I can see the solemn faces on the board members in attendance. This is a heavy weight all of us are shouldering.”
Levy is Likely
Agency finance director John Howard said they began 2021 with $1.4 million in carryover funds. However, the number of kids in custody skyrocketed. Each child in custody costs taxpayers an estimated $10,000 per year in county foster care. If they are placed in outside agencies, the cost is a minimum of $20,000 per year. Children with special medical or psychological needs cost even more money. By the end of 2021, all of the carryover funds were depleted.
Commissioner Powell met with CPS Director Jason Mantell and the agency’s governing board to review the finances. Howard said the agency knows it must come up with an alternative to asking the commissioner for more money. Howard said the only alternative is to ask for a levy or to follow the path of some counties and not remove children from potentially dangerous situations. “I don’t think anyone in this room thinks that’s a good option. Let’s just send kids back to places where they don’t belong. We gotta do what’s right.”
Howard said the agency has also developed a cost-saving plan and would continue to look into additional ways to save money. CPS Board Member Patricia Ciraso said the agency was also aggressively seeking grant money. Ciraso said it was also important that the agency make sure any request for funding through a levy be an amount that taxpayers would be willing to go for.
Commissioner Bryan Davis said that the State of Ohio was not providing enough funds to take care of children in foster care. “That revenue truly should come from the State of Ohio. That’s the way it’s set up to be. State and federal funds fund children services.”
Long-Term Solutions
Davis said that it was going to take a lot of hands-on work to fix the problem. “We can sit here and approve money, but it will eventually bankrupt us. This is probably the greatest threat to our county fiscally that we’ve had in eight years.” Davis said he did not blame the board or Director Mantell and that he had great confidence in the county’s ability to fix the problem, citing how Scioto County dug its way out of fiscal emergency. “This is an opportunity for improvement.”
Davis also addressed calls to build a children’s home. “Financially, it’s not possible.” He pointed out it would cost upwards of $11 million to build a home to house just 200 children coupled with the expense to hire licensed professionals to staff it.
Since state and federal officials do not care for institutional care, additional funding is not available. “They’re not doing to change their minds anytime soon. We can’t go down that road with a children’s home.”
Commissioner Cathy Coleman called the meeting an enlightening experience and agreed with the other commissioner that the CPS board and Director Jason Mantell were not to blame.