Knapsack: Licking County Children Services serve us all
It is very hard to believe it has been 10 years since Licking County had to approve our primary levy for Children Services, and it's up again for a vote May 6.
The Ohio Revised Code calls on counties to put these sorts of limited levies before the voters on a recurrent basis; 10 years is about the longest these go. School districts, boards of developmental disabilities and libraries are all the kinds of public entities which are subject to this kind of electoral review.
Yes, I was involved in this the last time, as campaign treasurer and working with the Citizens for Children Services, a kind of political action committee specifically for asking support of our levy.
Children Services is one part of the larger Licking County Job & Family Services office, which has a variety of funding streams, state and federal, for the work they do, but Children Services is largely funded directly by county property owners.
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It's been long discussed in Ohio that when it comes to the amount of state support for local Children Services, on foster care and kinship care, adoption and assisting with abused and neglected children, we are at or near the very bottom. By most nationwide measures, Ohio is 50th out of 50 states, and if the state were to double the amount it contributes to Children Services, we would still be in 50th place.
It should really sting that in 49th place is Michigan. Yeah, they're at the bottom, too, but above us.
There's a long history as to why this is so. I can't fix longstanding systemic problems (though I've tried to be engaged and proactive these last 10 years since I first learned these data points), so the reality in Ohio is that the state expects county property owners to cover what it won't. And we have to do it again because the law says these levies are limited.
This time, we're asking for a replacement of the existing levy. The millage stays the same, but we get the smallest possible increase by using the latest assessed value of the homes, buildings, and property. But because of the mysteries of rollback provisions in state law, as housing values are assessed, the levy recipients continue collecting on where we were.
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We need a replacement levy passed simply because while we are successfully helping to see that fewer kids are entering the care of the county, the costs have increased beyond the reduction of total cases. Specialized foster care and residential care cost more, and the county staff has their hands full finding placement as it is. We decided well before the last renewal of this levy in 2015 that we were committed to keeping Ohio kids in Ohio and not using out-of-state placements, even when those might have cost us less. That's still our program. To implement it, we need the dollars to cover in-state placement.
So on May 6, or as you vote early, in Licking County we are asking you to vote 'yes' to replace the Children Services levy. I am here to tell you the money is carefully managed, spent wisely, and with an eye to reducing the need to have state care intervene in a child's life in the first place. But when it has to happen, we want to keep kids safe, close to home and where they can thrive.
I hope you will join me in voting 'yes' for Children Services this May 6.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller and preacher in central Ohio; he's worked on a few Children Services levies and programs before. Tell him how you want to see children grow and thrive at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Knapsack: Licking County children need your support May 6
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