Ohio Department of Children and Youth lays out budget goals to cut infant deaths, expand child care and reduce foster placements

Director Wente, director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, told a state legislative committee that the newly created department is centering its biennial budget request on three goals: reduce infant mortality, improve kindergarten readiness through expanded child care access, and reduce the number of children entering foster care.

Wente said the department now houses early childhood programs that were moved from multiple agencies and serves children “prenatal to 21.” She told lawmakers Ohio’s total population is about 11,800,000 and the department’s focus covers an estimated 3,000,000 children; she added just over 660,000 are ages birth to 5 and roughly half of children live under 200% of the federal poverty level.

The department has launched several operational changes it says will support those goals. Wente described a central intake expansion and a family-facing application called Sparkler that launched in September; she said the intake/screening expansion allowed the department to screen more than 2,200 children ages 2–5 in the first weeks after the app’s launch and that about 100 of those children were connected to additional services such as preschool special…