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Department of Children and Youth highlights infant-vitality, childcare expansion and wellness campuses
Summary
Department of Children and Youth Director Carol Wendt told the Senate Finance Committee the agency's priorities are reducing infant mortality, expanding access to affordable childcare and keeping children safely at home.
Carol Wendt, director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY), told the Senate Finance Committee the agency's work is guided by three goals: reduce infant mortality, expand access to affordable, quality childcare to improve kindergarten readiness, and keep more children safely at home.
"Remember that behind every policy is a person," Wendt said, urging the committee to view data and budgets through the lived experience of families. Wendt said the agency has consolidated programs from five prior agencies and is focusing on efficiency: staff were reduced from 674 positions to about 600 and central intake was expanded from birth-to-3 to birth-to-5 to help families identify services earlier.
Wendt cited preliminary 2024 data showing Ohio's infant mortality rate at 6.6 per 1,000 live births and said the administration seeks to drive that rate lower through community-focused "Partner for Change" grants. She described Cincinnati's local model as a template that reduced infant mortality by about 30% in 19 months and said the agency will target five communities that account for 45% of infant births and deaths.
On childcare, Wendt detailed the Childcare Choice Voucher program and said the executive budget would expand eligibility and help parents remain in work or school. She said more than 5,300 families and 8,000 children have been served by the voucher program since its April 2024 launch, and that the executive proposal aligns state policy with federal requirements such as prospective provider payments, copay caps at 7%, and paying providers at the 50th percentile to maintain federal Child Care and Development Block Grant compliance.
Wendt also requested funding for early-intervention services ($16 million in the executive proposal over the biennium) and for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library ($2 million annually) to support early literacy. She said children in early intervention have lower downstream needs: "When children receive that early support, 1 out of 3 of them need no formal specialized services when they enter kindergarten." The agency asked for one-time funding to create child wellness campuses intended to provide regional, trauma-informed placement options and rapid response care intended to reduce hotel or lobby holds for children in crisis; senators discussed a $30 million planning figure during Q&A and Wendt said the agency believed the amount was appropriate.
Wendt said the agency has used data sharing (including the statewide student identifier and kindergarten readiness assessment) to track outcomes and target investments, but she told the committee she and members were concerned about the House omnibus changes that eliminated or altered the kindergarten readiness assessment and said DCY would pursue continued discussion on that point.
Ending: Wendt asked legislators to support the executive budget's child-care and infant-vitality investments, said the agency would continue providing data to show results, and reiterated a pledge to "do what's right for kids."
