Statewide Directives
The Governor created the Ohio Family and Children First Cabinet Council, which is charged with streamlining the state bureaucracy for family programs and emphasizing prevention and early intervention for young children. At the county level, Local Family Service Councils will serve as the county planning and policy vehicle for coordinating and developing local services to meet desired state and local outcomes for families.
Legislation
The Ohio Family and Children First Initiative is in the development stage. Legislation may be considered in the future.
Funding Sources
This new initiative considers realigning existing dollars, leveraging additional federal dollars, pursuing private funding, and seeking new state dollars.
Access to services will be based on the expressed needs of children and their families.
Implications
State Policymakers
This approach could involve allocation of new dollars; reallocation of existing dollars; and statutory changes in governance.
State-Level Agency Heads and Staff
The new initiative will increase: the number of consumers represented or actively participating on state-level advisory committees; the number of staff and agencies participating in cross-system training; and the amount of money pooled to support collaborative efforts for children from birth to age eight. Accountability will be based on measurable outcomes and funding will be tied to those outcomes.
Local Agency Staff
This approach will increase collaborative planning; the number of staff and agencies participating in cross-system training; the regionalization of service delivery; and the combined dollars supporting collaborative efforts. It also will bring changes in governance structures and decrease regulation and bureaucracy. Collaboration will become a condition of funding, accountability will be based on measurable outcomes, and funding will be tied to those outcomes.
Consumers/Families
Access to services will be based on the expressed needs of children and their families. Identification of needs and interventions will occur earlier and focus on the support and maintenance of intact families. Collaboration between systems will allow more efficient and effective service delivery. In-home and community-based services and supports will increase. Services will build on the strengths and resources of children and their families and will be clinically and culturally competent.
Constraints
Constraints include implementing change to create a new system; funding; turf; and federal and state statutes and regulations. These issues are being addressed in the work plan designed to implement the Ohio Family and Children First Initiative.
Future
The Governor, the cabinet directors, and the state superintendent are committed to the Ohio Family and Children First Initiative.
Posted on March 23, 1995
URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-3oh.htm