Scioto County will spend around $8 million dollars caring for kids in foster care. But CPS leaders say things are gradually getting better at the agency that was once so troubled the state stepped in to take it over.
“We continue to move that mountain one rock at a time. We’re moving forward daily, but that progress seems like it can be an inch at a time.” Scioto County Jobs and Family Services Director Tammy Moore Morton says things are slowly improving at Scioto County Children Services but admits it’s a struggle. “We have to stay positive.” Morton says the agency is constantly reevaluating how they handle things. “We need to make the necessary changes, regroup, and continue to move forward.”
However, Morton admits there’s still a long way to go at the troubled agency. “Are we where we need to be? No, we’re not where I want us to be.”
However, she says things are better than they were a year ago after the Children Services Board was disbanded by Commissioners, absorbed by JFS, and moved into the same building.
“It’s hard to believe that much time has passed. You can’t even begin to quantify the amount of change we’ve seen. The change has made both Children Services and Jobs and Family Services better.”
She said the issues were not due to lack of effort and hard work on her staff’s part. “We are trying, but some of the forces are against us. We don’t have enough staff. Director Morton said she is still struggling with finding and keeping qualified employees. “My top priority is to stabilize the staff, get enough people on board, and get them trained. With the recruitment and retention situation, it seems like we take one step forward and two steps back almost on a daily basis.”
There are currently 323 children in the care of Scioto County Children Services. Back in July of 2022, the number of kids stood at 407. Morton says the number of kids in care is slowly dropping, but that’s not due to fewer children coming into their custody. The reduction in numbers is due to children leaving the system after they are placed in permanent homes. “We are removing the children that need to be removed.”
Morton said about 100 of the 323 kids in the care of the agency are waiting for decisions on placement in permanent homes. She said that the placement costs for kids were rising despite the lower number of kids in care. “Placement costs are directly related to the level of need of the kids.” She said many of the children in custody had special needs. For August, the county spent $716,000 to care for kids in their custody. “We’re on target to spend $8 million this year on placement costs alone.”
Morton says the creation of a new Ohio Department of Children and Youth in 2025 is cause for hope that more state money will be directed towards counties to take care of foster kids.
The agency is also putting together a playbook that CPS and the agencies they work with will follow to make sure all cases are handled in the same manner. She said that the playbook will be made public when finalized.
Commissioner Bryan Davis called for speeding up the process of placing kids in permanent homes saying it was good for children and saved the county money. He also suggested the state should consider capping what it paid for placement costs at outside agencies. “Some of the numbers from providers I’m seeing are abusive. I think that the taxpayers need to understand what’s happening. It’s not that they’re getting additional services, the providers are just asking for more.”
Davis said he realized there are children out there with special needs but at some point, there had to be changes. “They can ask whatever they want. We’re talking hundreds of dollars a day.”
“Thousands,” Morton said.
“That’s way too much. No budget can absorb that,” Davis said. “We go to the taxpayers and ask for money, they graciously give it, then the bar gets raised. They really need to look at this.”
