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County officials, child‑welfare providers urge Senate to fund regional child wellness campuses and stabilize placement rates
Summary
County commissioners and Public Children Services Association leaders warned the Senate that Ohio faces a treatment and placement crisis for youth in custody and urged restoration of House funding for regional child wellness campuses and rate transparency in HB 96.
County officials, child welfare agency leaders and private providers told the Senate Health Committee that Ohio is facing a statewide placement and treatment crisis for children in public custody and asked the Senate to preserve policy and funding in House Bill 96 designed to create regional short‑term crisis stabilization centers and bring transparency to placement rates.
The issue: Speakers said counties are paying rapidly rising placement costs and that counties cannot refuse court orders to take custody. Jack Everson of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio and Angela Sasse of the Public Children's Services Association of Ohio described widening gaps in placement capacity and a nearly 68 percent increase in room‑and‑board costs over five years, with foster home and residential treatment rates rising faster than inflation.
Why it matters: When no placement is available, children can end up spending nights at county agency offices, advocates said, which compounds trauma. Proposal in HB 96 would fund regional “Child Wellness Campuses” to provide short‑term stabilization, assessments and treatment planning so counties can locate appropriate placements.
Details from testimony: Jeremy Ratcliffe, a local job and family services director, told senators that counties cannot refuse custody and that placement coordinators sometimes face daily choices between keeping a child in the office or accepting very high per‑diem rates for placements. He described examples where counties paid widely different daily rates for similar levels of staff supervision. The proposed House language would standardize elements of placement contracting to improve transparency; witnesses asked the Senate to preserve that policy rather than adopt a one‑size‑fits‑all rate card without study.
Advocacy asks: Testimony requested restoration of the House‑included dedicated one‑time funding to establish regional Child Wellness Campuses and support for the governor’s proposal to help offset county placement costs over the biennium. Witnesses also supported a legislator‑led study (amendment SC0716 referenced by providers) instead of a statutory one‑size‑fits‑all rate card.
Ending: County leaders urged the Senate to maintain the House investments and policy fixes in HB 96 so counties and providers can better stabilize placements, reduce trauma for children, and control rapidly rising costs.
