State Rep. Justin Pizzulli is asking Gov. Mike DeWine to approve $3.69 million in emergency assistance for Scioto County Children’s Services as the county continues to battle a child welfare budget crisis SCDN has reported on for months.
Pizzulli said he sent a letter to DeWine requesting emergency help through the Ohio Controlling Board to cover a projected shortfall through the rest of 2026.
“Behind these numbers are children who need safe homes, stability, and care,” Pizzulli said. “Scioto County has been carrying an extraordinary burden for years.”
The request comes as county officials have repeatedly warned that skyrocketing placement costs are putting Scioto County in an impossible financial position.
Commissioners have said the county is facing three bad choices: ask taxpayers for more money, take fewer children into care, or cut other county services to cover the cost.
Officials have also stressed that refusing abused, neglected, or endangered children is not a real option.
That leaves county services and taxpayers under pressure.
In his letter, Pizzulli said Scioto County Children’s Services is facing a projected $3.69 million shortfall because of the ongoing cost of caring for children placed in agency custody.
He said the crisis is not the result of poor planning or failure to cut costs.
“This is not the result of poor planning or a lack of effort to control costs,” Pizzulli wrote. “Scioto County has spent years trying to manage this growing burden.”
Pizzulli pointed to several steps the county has already taken, including combining Children’s Services with Job and Family Services to streamline operations and using federal ARPA funds to keep essential services afloat.
While other communities used COVID-era money for future improvements, Pizzulli said Scioto County used its money “simply to survive the present.”
The letter also puts the local crisis in the larger context of the opioid epidemic.
Pizzulli said Scioto County has been on the front lines of the opioid crisis for decades and is now home to a major concentration of recovery housing and addiction treatment services.
While those services are important, he said families often relocate to Scioto County seeking treatment. When those families struggle and children enter custody, the cost falls on Scioto County Children’s Services.
“A statewide crisis ultimately becomes a local financial responsibility,” Pizzulli wrote.
Pizzulli compared Scioto County’s situation to Vinton County, which recently received state help after an emergency involving 16 children.
He said Scioto County’s crisis is different because it did not happen overnight.
Instead, he said, it has built over years.
“The danger is that because Scioto County’s emergency developed gradually, it is easier to overlook just how unsustainable it has become,” Pizzulli wrote.
County leaders have made a similar argument, saying Scioto County has been dealing with a slow-moving emergency that is just as financially dangerous as a sudden crisis.
The issue is placement cost.
When children cannot safely remain at home, Children’s Services must place them somewhere safe. That can include foster homes, residential facilities, treatment placements, or other care settings. Some of those placements can cost hundreds or even more than a thousand dollars per child per day.
Those costs can explode quickly, especially when children need specialized care or when there are not enough lower-cost placement options available.
Pizzulli said Scioto County has already done its part.
“We have cut costs, consolidated operations, exhausted one-time funding, and worked to manage this crisis locally,” he wrote. “We now need the State’s help.”
He asked DeWine to move quickly and support the $3.69 million emergency request so Scioto County Children’s Services can continue protecting and caring for vulnerable children.
The message is blunt.
Scioto County says it has scraped by as long as it can.
Now it wants the state to step in before the child welfare crisis forces deeper cuts across county government.
