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Department of Children and Youth outlines infant‑mortality, childcare and foster‑care investments in budget testimony
Summary
Director Carol Wendt told the Senate Finance Committee the Department of Children and Youth’s FY26–27 requests focus on reducing infant mortality, expanding affordable childcare and keeping more children safely at home, and described program metrics and planned pilots such as partner for change grants and child wellness campuses.
Carol Wendt, director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY), told the Senate Finance Committee on April 8 that the new agency’s budget proposals concentrate on three measurable goals: reduce infant mortality, expand access to affordable quality childcare and keep more children safely at home.
"Remember that behind every policy is a person," Wendt said in opening remarks. She described agency efforts to consolidate programs that previously lived in five agencies, to expand central intake and to improve data sharing, including use of the statewide student identifier to track kindergarten readiness.
Wendt cited preliminary 2024 data showing an infant mortality rate of 6.6 per 1,000 and said DCY will target five communities with a "partner for change" grant modeled in part on Hamilton County/Cincinnati work. "We're focused on 5 communities because that's where 45 percent of the infant births and deaths are occurring," she said, and noted that the Hamilton County model has seen a roughly 30 percent reduction in infant mortality in about 19 months.
On childcare, Wendt highlighted the Child Care Choice Voucher program, which she said has already supported more than 5,300 working families and about 8,000 children since April 2024. The department proposed expanding income eligibility to 200% of the federal poverty level and aligning curricula with the science of reading through Step Up To Quality. Wendt told senators the executive budget expects investments to boost kindergarten‑readiness demonstration rates from about 36% toward 60% over the next two years and to support an estimated 25,000 families returning to work or increasing hours.
Wendt also asked for one‑time funds to create child wellness campuses that provide regional placement and crisis response options for children in or at risk of entering public agency custody. She said Ohio had reduced the total number of children in custody from 16,455 (12/31/2019) to 14,213 (12/31/2024) and that more than 2,000 children remain in congregate care, which she described as the highest‑acuity and most expensive placements.
Committee members asked about the kindergarten readiness assessment (KRA), lead testing in childcare, home visiting data and scalability of the Cincinnati model. Wendt said the department has screened 3,400 children aged 3–5 through an expanded ages‑and‑stages questionnaire and that about 40 of those children have been connected to additional services, and she said DCY is pursuing tighter Step Up To Quality alignment and professional development for providers.
Wendt acknowledged changes proposed in the House omnibus and said DCY would continue to work with the committee on funding levels; she urged lawmakers to prioritize early investments and data tracking to measure program effectiveness.
