- FCCS is funded primarily by two 10-year levies, which represent more than 72% of agency’s total funding.
- This request is on the ballot this year because one of the levies is set to expire at the end of 2024 unless voters approve a renewal.
- As one of the most fiscally prudent public agencies in Central Ohio, FCCS has not had to ask for a millage increase in 20 years.
- If approved, the levy would cost $1.75 per month more than the current tax rate on a $100,000 home… or about the cost of a candy bar.
OUR AGENCY’S NEED TO EVOLVE
After four years of the historic impacts on child welfare exposed by the COVID pandemic, FCCS is faced with a need to further evolve how we truly keep children safer and make families stronger for longer.
- Dramatic Impacts of the Pandemic: Challenges parents face today are far different from 5-10 years ago. Add in the mental health crisis face by many youth, fears of neighborhood violence, economic uncertainties, and our community’s stretched-thin child welfare safety net.
- Children and Families in Need: Each year, our agency is relied upon to help more than 26,000 children and their families from all across Franklin County through prevention, protection, placement, and permanency programs.
- Calls for Help 24 Hours a Day: In 2023, more than 27,500 referrals and calls were made to the Franklin County Child Abuse Hotline.
o 52% allegations of physical abuse
o 30% concerns about neglect
o 16% allegations of sex abuse
o 14% fears about substance use/drug addiction
o 13% concerns about domestic violence
- Increasing Cost of Placement: Placement costs have increased significantly, skyrocketing up 24% over past three years alone, much of which has to do with the growing complexity of care needed for the children we serve.
- Growing Complexity of Care: Statewide data shows that an estimated one in four youth in agency custody have complex issues including mental illness, developmental disabilities, and multi-system experiences, which often looks like teenage youth who are also involved with the juvenile justice system, some in felony-level crimes.
- Longer Length of Stay: If child or teen must be placed in agency care, they are likely to remain in custody an average of 580 days - a nearly 60% increase from a decade ago.
Our integrated child protection strategy emphasizes protecting the whole child - body, mind, and heart - recognizing the mental health and social-emotional challenges confronting so many young people. We match every child who comes into FCCS with at least one caring adult - caseworker, foster parent, relative or kin, mentor or volunteer, or a community partner.
Children are better served if they can safely remain with their primary families as they seek support. When children can no longer safely stay with their parents, we prioritize placement in family-like settings with caring adults. Even better, we are investing in a full-range of community-based prevention programs to prevent families from entry into the child welfare system.
To best serve families, we must make the necessary investments to recruit and retain a strong workforce, while at the same time capitalizing on infrastructure, training, and staff to keep Team FCCS safer together, organizationally supported, culturally competent, and better reflective of who we serve.
Good financial stewardship is marked by transparency, accountability, and mission-driven investments. At FCCS, we have a renewed focus on re-investing tax dollars into businesses based in Franklin County and services provided by those who are more reflective of the children and families we serve.
Authentic relationships are rooted in two-way, trusted partnerships that connect with the communities we serve. Along with engaging our community, we are promoting and investing in an ecosystem of community partnerships across a diverse field of services to best address our families’ true needs.
As one of Ohio’s largest public child service agencies and a national voice in child safety, Team FCCS will continue to champion the transformation of the child welfare system and how our system can best keep kids safer and make families stronger for longer.
Kinship Support Parity
Caseworker Recruitment and Retainment
Caseworker Recruitment and Retainment
Children who can no longer safely stay with their parents do better when they are placed with grandparents, relatives, or other kinship caregivers. To be successful, kinship providers need better supports and access to resources. With this levy, FCCS would be able to invest in additional kinship supports - including higher kinship stipend
Children who can no longer safely stay with their parents do better when they are placed with grandparents, relatives, or other kinship caregivers. To be successful, kinship providers need better supports and access to resources. With this levy, FCCS would be able to invest in additional kinship supports - including higher kinship stipends - so that more children can find safe, stable permanency through kinship.
Caseworker Recruitment and Retainment
Caseworker Recruitment and Retainment
Caseworker Recruitment and Retainment
When a child’s caseworker leaves and is replaced by a new caseworker, national data shows that the child will likely stay in custody an additional six months or more on average. That means more trauma to the child and family and more cost to the agency. With this levy, we look to invest in Team FCCS and in our caseworkers - to train them,
When a child’s caseworker leaves and is replaced by a new caseworker, national data shows that the child will likely stay in custody an additional six months or more on average. That means more trauma to the child and family and more cost to the agency. With this levy, we look to invest in Team FCCS and in our caseworkers - to train them, to retain them, to keep them safer and honor their value, and to hire more caseworkers and staff who best reflect the youth and families we serve.
Community Prevention Services
Caseworker Recruitment and Retainment
Community Prevention Services
We want to strengthen families BEFORE they are in crisis and fall into the child welfare safety net. With new levy dollars, the agency would be able to invest roughly $1 million more each year into community-based prevention program providers who work with any family in Franklin County to help address new challenges caregivers are facing
We want to strengthen families BEFORE they are in crisis and fall into the child welfare safety net. With new levy dollars, the agency would be able to invest roughly $1 million more each year into community-based prevention program providers who work with any family in Franklin County to help address new challenges caregivers are facing and mental health crisis gripping so many of our young people.
- History of Community Support: Our latest Community Survey re-affirmed that this community still puts a high priority on keeping kids safe. Roughly 80% of respondents put “providing safe, stable environments for all children” and “protecting at-risk children” as top priorities for this community.
- Good Financial Stewards: FCCS has not asked for a millage increases in more than 20 years. This 2.5 mill levy - which is the 1.9 renewed PLUS 0.6 added - would total about $49 a year for every $100,000 in home value. That’s $1.75 per month more than the current tax rate… or about the cost of a candy bar.
- Impactful Story to Share: FCCS has launched a multi-tiered, multi-channel communications strategy to effectively engage and listen to our community and “tell our own story” about how FCCS is keeping kids safer and making families stronger for longer.