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WARREN -- Trumbull County Children Services hopes to find foster homes for some 130 children in its care.
The agency aims to keep kids safe and in a familiar neighborhood, while working with the birth family toward reunification.
Children services, 2282 Reeves Road NE, is having a 5:30 p.m. Sept. 13 meet-and-greet event for those interested in becoming foster caregivers.
A foster caregiver, a youth who has been fostered and adopted, an experienced foster caregiver who mentors newly licensed families and a caseworker are expected to speak at the event about their individual stories.
The need for foster homes continues to increase for a variety of reasons.
Right now, about 130 children either are in temporary or permanent custody of the agency.
"All children belong in a family," children services supervisor Deanna Prezioso said.
"We are always recruiting for foster homes throughout Trumbull County so children can remain in their own community while the agency works with the biological family to rebuild a safe and stable home," she said. "Our dedicated foster caregivers stand in the gap for children who enter the foster care system while their birth family works toward the goal of reunification."
THE PROCESS
Foster caregiver eligibility requires 24 hours of training in Ohio, and 10 more hours under the agency, talking with caseworkers, and having drug screenings, psychiatric evaluations and home safety checks.
"Within the first two years of licensing, caregivers are allowed to house no more than three kids," Prezioso said. "And they must show they have enough beds and resources to add more."
The purpose of the Sept. 13 panel "is for anyone in the community to learn more about fostering," Prezioso said. "And hopefully some youth who've been adopted will be there."
Of the approximately 130 children in need of fostering, Prezioso said most come from Warren.
"The 130 average fluctuates," Prezioso said. "Many of them find a temporary place, but they often end up back with us."
Hannah Telesz, community liaison and recruitment specialist, said children services keeps count of children by ZIP code, strives to keep them in their neighborhood and keep siblings together.
Prezioso added, "Once they (foster kids) are in our care, we really want them to have the most normal lives possible."
GREATER NEEDS
On a national scale, the Children's Bureau and Child Welfare Information Gateway reports more than 391,000 children and youth are in foster care, with mental and behavioral health as the largest unmet needs.
The need for foster caregivers is increasing with time, as well as the amount of children's needs in the home.
"Up to 80 percent of children in foster care have significant mental health issues, compared with approximately 18 to 22 percent of the general population," the information gateway states.
In Trumbull County, a majority of fostering cases are still drug-involved, according to children services, and the needs of kids are a lot more intense.
Foster home turnover grows each year because families adopt one or more children they are fostering, according to the agency.
Additionally, the need for foster caregivers has increased because well over 50 percent of children in custody have a guardian with a substance disorder or mental illness, which can require lengthy treatment.
This results in children remaining in foster care longer and limits the availability of new placements in those homes.
KEEPING KIDS SAFE
Combined with mental health-related hardships, Prezioso said, "Foster kids are the No. 1 target for human trafficking."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Guide for Child Welfare Agencies states: "Traffickers may specifically target children in (or who have run away from) foster care because of their increased vulnerability, and work to exploit the fact that these children may not have their familial, emotional or basic needs met."
And, traffickers promise to meet those needs -- at times using psychological manipulation and financial incentives -- and then using persuasion, violence, drugs or physical control to retain and exploit them, the guide states.