Cuyahoga County proposing solutions to placement crisis to prevent youth staying at DCFS office

CLEVELAND, Ohio At least 617 times in the past four years, children were kept in the office building of the Jane Edna Hunter Social Services Center for more than a day because they had nowhere to go, but Cuyahoga County officials believe they have found a solution.  .

   David Merriman, director of the county's Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Department of Children and Family Services, said the county will propose several "breakthrough" changes this month to help youth transition quickly from office buildings to appropriate residential care.  and increasing staffing to rebuild and strengthen the region's social service safety net.

   The first is an eight-bed contract for emergency county placement in partnership with Cleveland Christian Home, a residential treatment provider at the Center for Working Families and Children.  But unlike other agreements, the centers cannot reject or kick out any children referred, Merriman said, which has hindered the county in the past, particularly in finding homes for teenagers with outstanding fees or special needs.

   Merriman did not say how much the new contract would cost, but the center would have funds to offer signing bonuses to attract and retain staff needed to operate the additional beds.

   The county will propose a pay raise for its own DCFS employees, which officials say would be the highest paid to Cuyahoga County social workers in the state and, hopefully, encourage staffing levels to bolster other child protection services.

   Those changes are expected to be presented to the council when it returns from recess on September 13 and sent to committee for discussion.  If approved there, DCFS officials expect the council to pass the items on emergency situations, making them effective by Oct. 1.

   The stopgap is intended to provide immediate relief to concerns raised by DCFS staff in July, when they called on the County Council for help because they said children were living out of control and unsafe in the office building.  But the changes could also be a long-term solution, Merriman said in an Aug. 17 interview with Cleveland.com, which included DCFS Interim Director Jacqueline Fletcher, Chief of Staff Bill Mason, Interim Sheriff Steven Hammett, Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Mason.  Matt Reimer, Director of Public Works, and two members of Executive Armand Budish's communications team.

   It's too early to know if these changes will be enough to deter children from spending the night in office buildings.  But while officials wait to see if that works, they are preparing a backup plan to convert the county-owned Metzenbaum building into a permanent residential drop-off center for county youth awaiting placement.

   This will ensure that there is always a bed and pillow waiting for every child in county care, even if another provider refuses them.

   We are going to build capacity, Merriman promised.

   How we got here

   Cuyahoga County has struggled to find short-term emergency childcare beds for youth awaiting placement since at least 2018, according to a timeline provided by the county.  They are contracting with up to 77 new providers today, 21 of which are local but the problem persists and has worsened.

   In 2019, children were brought to the Jane Edna Hunter Building's childcare room 2,492 times, county records show.  In 57% of those cases, children received other placements within three hours, and in 93% of cases they were reassigned within 24 hours.

   But in the remaining 163 cases, children were left to sleep on cots in childcare rooms or in hallways for more than 24 hours.  Records may not show hours, days, weeks and numbers may show duplicates where the same child returned to the office multiple times.

   Mason said he and Buddhi discovered the problem in 2020 when the number of youth in the building was cut in half during the Covid-19 pandemic.  However, records show that there were still 138 instances where children spent more than one day.

   Mason said she and Budish were stunned by the child sleeping overnight in an office and ordered former DCFS Director Cynthia Veschitel to find other housing options.  After that initial conversation, Mason said, we thought it was resolved, and then another kid would run out of the office or something bad, and we'd notice it, and we'd be like, 'That shouldn't be happening.  Children.  in the building.  Why are there children in the building?

   I yelled at them about it, Mason said.

   That year, the Buddha took a more active role in solving the problem.  He expanded a county program that works to place more children with family members and called all county residential providers to a meeting to discuss their contracts and request more emergency bed space.  He promised more county-funded placements to support them.

   Some stepped in in small ways that did not meet the need.  Most didn't, Mason said.

   Last year, children spent more than a day in the office building 179 times, records show.  The county said that number represents 128 individual children, meaning a quarter of children ride through the building more than once.

   During June of this year, the county recorded 137 stays of at least 24 hours, records show.

   On any given day, Merriman said there can be three to eight children in the Jane Edna Hunter office building, where social workers and emergency call takers perform essential duties.  Children are mostly teenagers with complex needs related to criminal activity, behavioral problems, medical needs, mental health problems, or all of the above.

   And it's hard to keep them.

   For one child in county care, the team contacted more than 70 providers for an emergency visit but still couldn't secure a bed, Fletcher said.  She did not specify the child's needs, but cited examples of children in county care with attempted homicide, aggression or other medical or behavioral problems, which often prompt providers and guardians to deny parents visitation.