Jeff Van Deusen, is the Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth. He served as that master of ceremony for the Kids Summit.

Jeff Van Deusen, is the Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth. He served as that master of ceremony for the Kids Summit.

Nearly 900 leaders from counties across Ohio came to Columbus this week for a summit addressing how to deliver the right services for children and families who need assistance. In his opening remarks, Gov. Mike DeWine told the gathering “[My wife] Fran and I know that the future of our state is in the hands of our children and so we have an obligation to do all we can to help them thrive and live up to their God-given potential.”

In Partnership with the Supreme Court of Ohio
Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy’s opening remarks drove home the importance of the conference.

“I appreciate the community leaders that are coming together to learn and collaborate,” she said. “Our collective responsibilities toward Ohio’s children cannot be overstated. When we think of Ohio’s children, they are all of our children.”

Attendees to the conference included representatives from children service agencies, the judicial system, law enforcement, parent and family advocates, social workers, and county officials.

One example of collaboration discussed at the summit is called ‘dual-status children.’ These are children who have contact with both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Research has shown that dual status youth have a higher prevalence of traumatic events that have potentially long-term impacts. Dual-status youth are more likely to be detained and for longer periods of time when they have contact with the juvenile justice system.

Working Together to Help Ohio Children
There are two pilot projects in Ohio testing different collaborative models. One project is the Multi-Disciplinary Representation pilots in Clark, Wayne, Summit, Stark, Cuyahoga, and Erie counties. Teams consisting of an attorney, a social worker, and a person with lived experience (a credible messenger) work with families involved with or at risk of involvement with child protective services to address the underlying issues causing them to come into contact with the agency.

Another example is the Supreme Court of Ohio Dual Status Youth Pilot Projects in Fairfield, Clark, Hancock, and Champaign counties. In these counties the local juvenile court, child protective services agency, and community stakeholders work together to address the needs of youth who are involved in both the juvenile justice and child protective services system.

The trend toward more collaboration has grown out of frustration that the old adversarial process is ineffective and inefficient. Instead, many communities see the collaborative model as a way to focus efforts and information in a way that best meets the needs of a youth, and hopefully preventing youth and their families from further involvement into the judicial system.