Williams County children’s services warns of shortfall as 52 children remain in care

Kylie Thomas, director of Williams County Job and Family Services, told the county commissioners that the agency was supporting 52 children in foster care and spending roughly $315,000 a month on placements, creating a multi‑month budget shortfall if the caseload remains steady.

Thomas said the county’s foster‑care balance would fund current costs for about five and a half months at the present rate, and commissioners estimated in discussion that the county could be roughly $800,000 short by August if nothing changes. The department’s caseload fluctuates, Thomas said, but the current number includes about 30 children placed out of county and a high number of teenagers, particularly teenage girls, who are difficult to place locally.

The shortfall largely reflects the cost of group homes and residential placements, which Thomas described as “exponentially more expensive” than local foster homes. She told the board the county had tried to limit out‑of‑county placements by building a regional “treatment care collaborative” with neighboring counties — Henry, Defiance, Paulding and Fulton — and said the collaborative was pursuing recruitment and training for local foster and treatment‑level homes.

Thomas explained two operational requests to the commissioners. First, she asked that Vicky (last name not specified), the agency’s executive business administrator, be authorized as a designee to sign bills in the director’s absence so invoices can be submitted to the auditor without delay. Second, she asked that Christy (last name not specified) be authorized to sign one‑time kinship stipend checks in the director’s absence; the county’s kinship stipend is a $250 one‑time payment per child and the dedicated checkbook that funds it maintains a maximum of $5,000 at any one time and is reconciled by the Williams County Auditor.

Commissioners agreed to sign memos authorizing backups so the payments and the kinship checks would not stall while Thomas attended training in Columbus. Thomas emphasized the kinship program was set up to quickly assist relatives taking temporary custody — an amount meant to address immediate needs when children arrive unexpectedly.

The department and commissioners discussed recruitment strategies to expand the pool of foster families, including outreach through local churches, civic groups and school events and a media campaign used by Defiance County that the collaborative plans to replicate. Thomas said the county is also exploring state pilot programs to establish locally owned treatment facilities and has raised the county’s interest with state officials.

Commissioners asked the agency to produce bullet points and a short action plan for recruitment and said they would add foster‑home recruitment as old business to monitor progress.

What’s next: Thomas and her staff said they will pursue state grant opportunities and continue regional collaboration; the commissioners asked staff to return with specific funding requests and a timeline for any local commitments.