Opioid epidemic leaves a growing number of children in foster care and millions of dollars for taxpayers

Last year, the Ohio Department of Health reported 4,050 residents died in unintentional drug overdoses. Fentanyl and other related drugs were involved in 58.2 percent of deaths. However, the numbers do not show how much the opioid epidemic has devastated families. Since 2010, the number of children entering foster homes has significantly increased.

Department Director of Summit County Children Services, Tracy Mayfield said at the state level, the agency has experienced an 11 percent increase in the number of children in the state’s custody on any given day.

“We have about 190 children who are in permanent custody at this point in time,” Mayfield said. “The agency also had a 48 percent increase from 2012 to 2015 in the number of children placed in a relative’s home.”

The increase in children entering foster care has caused placement costs to rise.

Mayfield said the agency’s placement cost for 2012 was about $12,372,000. In 2014 it increased by 15 percent with $14,279,000, and in 2017 it had already surpassed the amount from 2014.

Ohio receives the lowest state funding for child protection services.

“Even if we doubled the amount of funds that are allocated to state child protection, we would still be last,” Mayfield said.

The agency is funded 60 percent by levies, 30 percent from federal sources, 10 percent from other sources and 4.6 percent from the state.

Mayfield said the money is used for salaries and benefits for the agency’s staff, clothing, food and transportation for children, health related expenses for children, building supplies and contract services, community education and staff training.

Training classes are required for families interested in adopting or fostering children.

Director of Open Arms, a private adoption agency in Streetsboro, Jackie Smigel requires potential parents to take in person classes as opposed to online.

“We really believe in the value of community and building a community within our families to provide a natural support for one another as they’re going through the process,” Smigel said.

The classes cover topics such as attachment issues in adoption, effects of neglect and abuse on children and helping families to become multicultural. They are part of a federal mandate program to help families address the possible needs of their adopted children.

“We’re setting families and kids up for failure if you adopt a child and expect them to just magically fit into your family ,” Smigel said.

The agency hosts monthly events around the community to inform people about adoption and recruit potential parents.

The Ohio Adoption Photolisting states that a private agency adoption, which usually handles infant adoptions can cost from $4,000-$30,000. Private adoptions can take one to two years to complete.

A public adoption, where a child is in the custody of the state can cost up to $2,500. The time it takes to complete a public adoption can range from several months to a few years.

Ronna Johnson, a nurse practitioner at Community Health Center in Akron worked in specialized foster care for 15 years before adopting two children.

Johnson and her husband had three biological children of their own but saw that there was a need for more foster families.

“I was especially interested in kids needing medical help and developmental special needs,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the county tried to make her reconsider adopting her son Brandon because he was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy.

“We ended up taking him when he was two and they didn’t expect him to live to three,” Johnson said. “He’s 22 today.”

Johnson described Brandon as medically fragile. “He’s got a ventilator, a power chair and needs round the clock nursing care but cognitively, he’s okay,” Johnson said.

Brandon is currently a junior at Kent State University and is majoring in middle childhood education.

“He struggles social but he’s trying to get out and get past some of that,” Johnson said.

Johnson also has a 24-year-old adopted daughter named Dannise. As an infant, Dannise was in the care of a family Johnson worked with before she and her husband fostered Denise for a year and then adopted her.

“My daughter was a premature baby. She had a lot of health issues relating to her prenatal exposure,” Johnson said.

Dannise’s birth mother used cocaine and drank alcohol while she was pregnant, resulting in Dannise being born with fetal alcohol spectrum issues.

“She has fetal alcohol spectrum issues but not syndrome. The syndrome is more of the facial features, her’s are more neurologically based,” Johnson explained. “She’s not good at problem solving and projecting outcomes,” Johnson said. “She kind of gets herself in trouble with impulsive decisions.”

Johnson said Dannise is currently trying to get her life back on track.

“She was in the military, right out of high school and unfortunately got involved in substance issues and a not great relationship,” Johnson said.

Dannise ended up getting pregnant when she when she 19 years old.

“She was unable to take care of my grandson. He was not doing well and was in some high risk situations,” Johnson said.

Johnson has custody of her grandson who is almost four years old. She said one of the biggest reasons why more mothers are becoming addicted to substances is because of unresolved trauma.

The ladies that I work with have so many things that have happened to them and they kind of get involved with drugs, as a way to escape those things,” Johnson said.

As a nurse practitioner, Johnson does not see the opioid epidemic slowing down anytime soon.

“The quality of long-term services we provide families to keep them in recovery is very limited and not good,” Johnson said. Johnson said there is no continuity to help families and that more money is spent to withdraw people from drugs than there is to provide support and services to help people maintain sobriety.

“The biggest trigger for relapse is lack of support, resources and relationships,” Johnson said.
“We’re setting people up to fail.

Rates for children in Ohio’s foster care have significantly increased. Find out why when my article goes live in a few hours #JMCRPP

— Jillian Holness (@jillianholness) December 5, 2017

The opioid epidemic has caused rates for children in foster care to rise and has cost taxpayers millions. https://t.co/0Z2o4Mki1T #JMCRPP

— Jillian Holness (@jillianholness) December 6, 2017