An innovative workforce development initiative called the Ohio Child Protective Services Fellowship Program has received a big boost from Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Children and Youth.
The Governor’s Office announced today a $2 million federal grant that will help the Ohio Fellowship Program expand throughout northwest Ohio and to two other regions of the state in an effort to address the turnover crisis in the child protection field. According to the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, at the start of 2023, 1 in 5 caseworker positions across the state was vacant, and by the end of that year, another fifth of caseworkers had resigned with no performance concerns. PCSAO’s Executive Director Angela Sausser said that 21 counties saw turnover of 40 percent or more, and nearly half the workforce statewide (43 percent) had less than two years of experience in the field. Research shows that when caseworkers resign, the children on their caseload end up spending significantly more time in foster care, she added.
PCSAO will administer the grant, working with lead agencies in each region supporting students and measuring outcomes. “Children services workers act as first responders, intervening with families facing domestic violence, substance use, mental illness, and child maltreatment,” Sausser said. “Every day they help families heal and be resilient, learn how to parent their children safely, and, when children have to be removed from the home, work with kinship caregivers and foster parents. The Ohio Fellowship Program will create a new pipeline of college graduates ready and willing to enter this rewarding but challenging field.”
Launched by Wood County Job & Family Services in 2022, the Ohio Fellowship Program recruits college seniors majoring in a wide range of human services studies to work part-time at a public children services agency while receiving training and first-hand experience on the job. Retention incentives, mentoring, and compensation keep them engaged in the program so that they are prepared to accept a caseworker position upon graduation. Jennifer Whiting manages the Ohio Fellowship Program at Wood County JFS. “The support of Governor DeWine, DCY, PCSAO, and all the Fellowship counties has been key to the success of building a program that will introduce students to child protective services,” Whiting said. “Taking an idea and turning it into a functional program that benefits counties, students, and, most of all, the families we work with is one of the greatest accomplishments in my career.”
A different University Partnership Program works specifically with social work majors, and has helped provide trained graduates to agencies for more than two decades, but this new program targets non-social work majors.
Sausser said that she hopes the program’s success will lead to statewide replication with funding support from the biennial budget. “Too often people apply to be caseworkers thinking they will be working with children, when in fact they must work with the whole family, often at their worst moment,” Sausser said. “Fellowship Program graduates know what they are getting into. This real-world experience is key to helping students decide if they want to pursue a career in children services or explore other related fields, and counties in other parts of the state are eager to benefit.”
The grant supports 75 college student Fellows over two years in northwest, southwest and southeast Ohio. The Fellows take on important tasks such as transporting children and families, supervising visits, requesting records, documenting case activities, helping find placements and making follow-up calls to providers and clients. Positions are typically advertised on Handshake, an online job and internship platform for students, and through college recruitment fairs.