By RENEE FOX

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Children Services is getting ready to kick off new programming shown to help children and families affected by substance-use issues through the use of peer mentors, counseling and intensive case management visits.

The agency received $170,000 to implement in 2020 the Ohio START (Sobriety, Treatment and Reducing Trauma) program, initialized by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

The money will pay for a family peer mentor and case worker, along with training for other staff, said Brad Smith, program administrator in the intake department of the county agency.

Mahoning County received funding in the third wave of grants. Trumbull County received funding in the second wave of grants and is finding the program works.

Training is set to begin in the next few months in Mahoning County, Smith said.

START uses peer mentors and caseworkers to intensify the number of visits families in the voluntary program receive, along with trauma counseling, to specifically target the families that might need some extra help getting over an addiction in order to keep their families together.

“A parent in the child welfare system dealing with addiction is paired with a caseworker team that includes a peer that has been through it before,” Smith said.

Other communities that used the program saw progress, so it was expanded, said Rona Curtis, assistant director of the county agency.

The program will start small, with one team focused on the program, but that could expand, Curtis said. The team will have 10 to 12 families in the program. Most caseworkers have 13 to 15 families at once, but the program is more intensive than usual. There are about 270 families under the agency’s care.

“We hope that it is something successful in our county, so we can build on our evidence-informed practices to help families,” Smith said.

In Trumbull County, Ohio START and a similar federal program began earlier this year and is showing signs of success, said Rick Tvaroch, Trumbull County Children Services’ quality assurance administrator.

The families in the program interact with their team about four times as often as other families.

“With intensive case management services, families are getting four times the contact; it is much more intensive than the traditional model. And it is doing well,” Tvaroch said.

The program is primarily funded through a Victims of Crime Act grant from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and a State Opioid Response grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, which are shared among the counties over two-and-a-half years.

These grant funds are used to help county child welfare agencies identify children who have been victimized due to parental drug use and provide them with specialized treatment for any resulting behavioral or emotional trauma. The grant also funds victim services for parents with underlying victimization that may be contributing to their addiction, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

rfox@tribtoday.com