2018 vol. 77, no. 28 - June 20, 2018

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The Opioid Crisis Exposed
A series examining the epidemic that is gripping all communities in our region.
Opioid crisis continues to strain the state’s foster care system
By KEVIN KELLEY
WESTSHORE - If you’ve ever wondered what you could do to help battle the opioid epidemic, consider becoming a foster parent.
The opioid epidemic is straining the ability of public children protection agencies to care for kids whose parents are struggling with addic­tion. According to the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, 28 percent of children taken into custody in 2015 had parents using opioids at the time. That figure was 11 percent in Cuyahoga County and 22 percent in Lorain County, but more than 70 percent in several counties in southern Ohio.
The number of children in foster care across the state rose from 12,654 in 2013 to 15,510 in 2017, an increase of 23 percent, according to the association. If the opioid epidemic continues at its current rate, the number will be more than 20,000 in 2020.
These figures do not include children who have been placed with relatives. But state social workers report that families are increasingly less able to care for children in need because multiple members of a family are often addicted.
The number of foster homes available on any given date – estimated at 7,200 – is not rising as quickly as the need.
“With the projected increases, we will have children sleeping in county agency lobbies with no available foster family to take them in,” said Angela Sausser, the association’s executive director.
This year, Cuyahoga is one of eight counties hit hard by the opioid epidemic to launch a foster family recruitment program thanks to a $1 million pilot program launched by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. The goal of the program is to find a primary related caregiver, with one or two potential backup options, within the first 30 days of children entering the foster care system.
Jacqueline McCray, deputy director of Cuyahoga County’s Division of Children’s and Family Services, said her department is looking to expand its network of about 300 foster care homes. The county also contracts with an additional 70 private agencies that provide care.
In comparison to many smaller counties in the state, Cuyahoga County has more resources to help troubled families, McCray said. Many of those resources were established in response to the crack epidemic of the early 1980s and the early 1990s, when the county had around 6,000 children in its custody.
Today, nearly 2,400 children in Cuyahoga County are in supervised care, the highest number since 2011, McCray said, adding that the opioid crisis is a major factor in the increase.
“Our foster care system is really strained in terms of the number of families available to take kids in,” she said.
Every suburb has a need for foster homes, McCray said.
“We are always looking for caregivers because we believe that kids need to be in the community that they’re familiar with,” McCray said. “We have kids that come to our attention from infancy all the way through their teens, and we need families that can support not only babies but our older teens as well.”
McCray, who has been with the agency for 29 years, said over the past two years, she has seen an increase in parents unable to care for their children because of the opioid crisis.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the end, or even the middle, of the entire opioid epidemic,” she said.
Parents addiction to other drugs also causes children to enter foster care, McCray said, adding that dependence on cocaine, marijuana and alcohol are even more prevalent in the cases they see.
But opioid abuse can have especially dire consequences.
“Sometimes your first use is the first and last time,” she said of the drug’s deadly nature.
The impact of heroin or fentanyl use can have traumatic effects on children, McCray said. Some children in the county system have witnessed a parent overdose or even die, she said.
Scott Ferris, director of Lorain County Children’s Services, said parental substance abuse is nothing new to social workers specializing in child welfare. But he agrees with McCray that opioid abuse can be especially deadly.
“What’s different with opioids and heroin is the lethality of it,” he said. “More parents are dying.”
A single relapse can lead to death, Ferris said, thanks to the drug’s ability to suppress the brain’s control of breathing. He’s seen too many instances of social workers accompanying a child to the parent’s funeral. This severity of consequences is what’s changed in recent years, he said.
In Lorain County, fewer children are in foster homes than four years ago, Ferris said, but more children have been placed in the care of relatives.
“We always look for relatives first,” Ferris said of the process of placing children, which is ultimately determined by a court.
This often means grandparents, he said, but added that taking in grandchildren can be stressful.
“They’re worried about their adult child who has the addiction while still caring for their grandchildren,” Ferris said.
Lorain County’s policy is to not place children from different families in the same foster home. Instead, the goal is to keep children from the same family together and, when possible, in the same neighborhood in which they lived. But those standards require many foster homes.
“We are always in recruitment mode for foster homes,” Ferris said.
The state licenses foster parents, and the process of getting a license can take from three to six months. Background checks must be done, and the parents must take several classes om topics ranging from child care to CPR.
Cuyahoga County residents interested in becoming a foster parent can call 216-881-5775 or visit http://cfs.cuyahogacounty.us/pdf_cfs/en-US/FosterAdoptionHandbook.pdf for more information.
Lorain County Children Services holds monthly information session for those interest­ing in being licensed as a foster parent. The next session is from 6 to 9 p.m. July 12 at the agency’s offices at 226 Middle Ave. in Elyria.
How to get involved
Four ways to help
1. Become a foster parent
This is the biggest way to help in the face of this epidemic. Check the end of this story to find out how to become a foster parent.
2. Become a mentor
Many youth centers host mentoring programs to help provide supportive adult relationships to at-risk teens and adolescents.
3. Volunteer time
Organizations like Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services, Lorain Children Services and the Providence House often hold events and fundraisers. Consider volunteering time to help put on one of these events.
4. Make a donation
Children who are removed from their home usually don’t have many belongings to call their own. To help, consider donating items like toys, hygenie products, school supplies, baby items, etc.