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Residential infant-care center says Senate cut will force Dayton program to halve operations
Summary
Bridget's Path told the Senate Finance Committee that removing a $1 million Infant Vitality line item will force the Dayton-based residential infant-care center to reduce operations and turn away newborns exposed to substances, increasing foster-care placements.
Bridget's Path, a licensed residential infant-care center in Dayton that treats newborns experiencing withdrawal from prenatal substance exposure, told the Ohio Senate Finance Committee that a Senate budget cut to a $1 million Infant Vitality line item would make the program unsustainable.
"Without the funding, Bridget's Path quite literally cannot stay open," founder and president Jill Kingston said Wednesday. She told senators the organization has cared for nearly 300 babies and families and that 85% of infants treated at Bridget's Path have avoided placement into foster care.
Kingston described ongoing interagency work since the prior budget: temporary law directing the Department of Medicaid (ODM) and Department of Children and Youth (DCY) to develop a sustainable reimbursement model and a service line for residential infant care. She said ODM’s rules are nearly final and DCY has allocated Vitality funding, but the Senate’s elimination of the $1,000,000 line item in its budget would undercut that prior legislative directive and make it impossible to maintain operations.
Why it matters: Bridget's Path provides inpatient, home-like withdrawal care that also offers family wraparound supports, which the witness said reduces foster placements and hospital NICU stays when the program is available. Kingston testified the program recently cut operations by roughly 50% because private donations were exhausted and waiting lists have grown.
Discussion vs. decisions: Kingston asked senators to restore the Infant Vitality line item in the omnibus budget and invited members to visit the Dayton facility. No formal action or amendment was taken during the hearing.
Ending: The center said restoring the line item would be an investment in family preservation and in reducing more costly institutional care for newborns; senators did not act in the hearing but heard the organization’s plea as budget negotiations continue.
