Proponent Testimony on HB 117

Human Services and Aging Committee

May 21, 2003

Provided by George Biggs MSW, LISW

Good morning Chair Schneider and members of the House Human Services and Aging Committee. My name is George Biggs and I am the Assistant Executive Director of the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies. OACCA is a statewide association of nearly 80 private and public agencies that provide a wide array of services to children such as drug and alcohol treatment, adoption, residential and foster care.

Thank you for the opportunity to offer proponent testimony on HB 117, sponsored by Representative John Widowfield.

HB 117, eliminates inconsistencies, and clarifies ambiguities in the current requirements for foster caregivers. I would like to highlight several key elements of HB117;

  1. Arson and aggravated arson will be added to ORC sections 2151.86(C)(1)(a), and would apply to prospective adoptive parents and agency employees. This will ensure that these prohibited crimes would apply to all persons subject to a criminal records check and will help assure the safety of Ohio's foster children.
  1. Current law permits The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to prevent an institution or association from operating without a certificate. HB117 includes a proposed new paragraph (J) that would clarify ODJFS authority to seek injunctive relief against all institutions or associations required by law to be certified and operating without a certificate and against licensed agencies "when there is evidence of imminent risk to the life, health or safety of one or more children". This will give ODJFS greater authority to stop agencies from operating illegally and putting children at risk.
  1. Current law requires a prospective family foster caregiver to complete 12 hours of training before they may receive a certificate and another 12 hours of training before they may have the first child placed in their home. HB117 simplifies this process. It combines the training requirement into one 24-hour block after which the foster caregiver can receive a certificate and have children placed in their home.
  1. Current law requires foster caregivers to complete continuing training on an annual basis. HB117 does not changethe total amount of training required, but allows foster caregivers to have the flexibility of obtaining the required training over the entire two-year certification period.
  1. HB 117 will allow agencies and foster caregivers to develop Individual Training Needs Assessments that will dictate the training that that foster caregiver must have to meet the needs of children placed in their homes. Foster caregivers will no longer have to repeat the same training year after year, wasting their time and the system’s money.
  1. HB117 language would exempt foster caregivers on active military duty from the continuing training requirement.
  1. HB117 would eliminate two unnecessary requirements from the list of pre-placement training topics for specialized foster caregivers. The first is training in physical restraint techniques. Since many agencies prohibit physical restraint requiring them to provide this training is unnecessary.

The second is special education surrogate parent training. According to the current requirements nearly 6,000 specialized foster caregivers are required to have this training. Neither the Ohio Department of Education nor the regional Special Education Resource Centers (SERC) have the capacity to provide this much training. HB117 will allow agencies more flexibility in providing education advocacy training and allows them to use a broader range of qualified trainers. This will relieve the burden on the Special Education Resource Centers.

  1. Current law specifies a limit of five children may be placed in a foster home. Exceptions can be made for sibling groups. HB117 adds exceptions to include foster children if they are relatives of the foster caregiver, foster children who have previously resided in the foster home, and allows teenage parents to keep their infant children with them.

The Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies was actively involved in the creation of HB 117 along with ODJFS, the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, and The Ohio Family Care Association (OFCA). We have all agreed to these proposed changes and strongly believe they will improve Ohio’s foster care system. We appreciate your continued commitment to children, and respectfully request your support of HB117.

Thank you again for this opportunity to provide testimony. I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.