Tuesday Times

Ohio Department of Children and Youth sent this bulletin at 12/10/2024 04:50 PM EST

DCY Tuesday Times
Issue 23: December 10, 2024

Tuesday Times

This ongoing correspondence focuses on essential business-related information, providing important updates for our partners. These updates encompass practice and policy adjustments, data dashboard enhancements, funding prospects, program details, training initiatives, and various other pertinent topics.

Updates by Program Area

Identification

Children Services

Home Visiting

Ohio Children's Trust Fund

Maternal and Infant Vitality Programming

Early Education

Early Intervention

Publicly Funded Child Care

Early Childhood Education

Preschool Special Education

Licensing

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Ohio

Support

Ohio Commission on Fatherhood

Ohio Family Children First Council

Healthy Beginnings at Home

Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

Strong Families, Safe Communities

Identification

Training/Toolkit helps Professionals Work with Families Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

The Department of Children and Youth is excited to share two new resources available to professionals working with families who may be experiencing Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).

The IPV Toolkit, located on the DCY website, equips professionals with essential tools and resources to support families, including both potential victims and their children. An accompanying training, Empowering Professionals Working with Families: Addressing and Responding to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), helps participants gain the knowledge and skills necessary to identify, respond to, and support families experiencing IPV, including recognizing the signs of IPV and utilizing community resources.

While the training was originally designed to support those working in home visiting, all professionals working with families are highly encouraged to take the training to learn more about how IPV affects children and families, how to talk with families about concerns, and how to make referrals for needed supports. The free one-hour asynchronous training is Ohio Approved and can also be used to meet ongoing training requirements for home visiting and early intervention credentials.

Participants can register for the training by setting up an account or using an existing account on the Ohio Professional Registry. To register, search by ST number or training name:

Empowering Professionals Working with Families: Addressing and Responding to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) – Registry ST# 10149961

Additional information or questions can be sent to hvtraining@childrenandyouth.ohio.gov.

Continuous Certification Effective Soon

Continuous certification will be effective soon. Don’t forget to register for the upcoming training! The Department of Children and Youth (DCY) will be transitioning to a continuous certification process for public and private agencies (operating residential care, independent living arrangements, recommending foster homes and adoption homes), certified foster homes, and approved adoption homes on January 1, 2025.

Along with the new certification process, agencies will now be using Ohio Certification for Agencies and Families (OCAF) for all their agency certification and application materials. Please see the OCAF Deployment Communication for additional information on how you can prepare for the system rollout. As a reminder, foster home certification and adoptive home approvals will continue in Ohio SACWIS. Previous guidance has been provided for both continuous certification and OCAF. Information was also provided regarding upcoming internal and external training sessions. The guidance documents, frequently asked questions, and training registration can be found at the following link: DCY Continuous Certification and OCAF Information - Home. Ohio Continuous Certification Training will be offered on January 7, 2025 from 9-11am. Those who may have attended a prior training session are welcome to attend the upcoming session. Please register for the training here and request OCAF access now.

Bady with Mother and Father outside playing on the grass

Updates and Guidance Letters

Date	Resource Name
12/10	DCY Guidance Letter 24-038 Title IV-E Foster Care Maintenance Payments
12/10	DCY Guidance Letter 24-039 Foster Care Maintenance and Kinship Guardianship Assistance Court Orders
12/10	DCY Update- Deployment Communication Ohio SACWIS-RTIS Release
12/10	DCY Update- Coming Soon Deployment Communication OCAF
12/10	DCY Update- Trauma Informed Care Series Facing Holiday-Related Trauma
11/29	Currents- OhioKAN Newsletter, November 2024
11/26	Home Visiting Provider eNewsletter- November 2024
12/5	Ohio START Newsletter-December 2024

Early Education

Early Childhood Workforce Registry/Survey to Provide Valuable Data

The Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA) recently added a new component to the Ohio Professional Registry (OPR) that will provide critical data to DCY regarding the early learning workforce. The OPR, which serves as Ohio’s early childhood workforce registry, allows professionals to document and track their employment, professional development, and credentials in a central location. When an early learning professional ends or changes a role, either the professional or the program administrator can document the end date in the registry. Effective November 26, the individual updating the information will be asked to complete an exit survey with questions related to reasons for the change. The questions will be specific to either the professional (such as why they were prompted to seek a new role and a description of their new role) or the administrator (such as whether the separation was voluntary and the reason for the separation), depending on who is entering the end date. Screenshots of the questions are available on the OCCRRA website here - https://occrra.org/exit-survey-info/.

These new fields will provide valuable data related to reasons why early childhood professionals may be changing employment. Responses to the exit survey questions are required, but are anonymous and will not be shared with current or future employers. OCCRRA will be able to create reports using aggregate data (without identifying specific individuals or programs) which will provide valuable information about the early learning workforce and allow DCY to better understand and support workforce needs.

Ohio Releases AI in Education Strategy

Appeared in the December 3 EdConnection

InnovateOhio, in collaboration with the AI in Education Coalition, seeks to better prepare educators, students, and communities for the workforce of tomorrow by launching the Ohio AI in Education Strategy. Read more...

Crane Center and DCY Receive $2 Million Federal Grant to Study Child Care

The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy and DCY have received a $2 million grant to study child care quality, access, and child outcomes as part of the federal Child Care Policy Research Partnerships (CCPRP) initiative. Funded through the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF), CCPRP grants support new research and evaluation occurring through cooperative partnerships between research organizations and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) lead agencies. Read the news release.

school kids raising their hands to answer a question

Updates and Guidance Letters

Date	Resource Name
12/10	DCY Guidance Letter 24-037- FCC Listening Session Information
11/26	Early Intervention Provider eNewsletter
12/10	Early Intervention Program Update-2424

Support

Ohio's Putative Father Registry Transfer Shows Efficiency of DCY

The Ohio Commission on Fatherhood (OCF) is working with the Division of Regulatory Compliance to transfer the Putative Father Registry (PFR) and the accompanying process to OCF. The PFR is a computerized database that allows a male to register if he believes he may have fathered a child and wants to be notified if the child is placed for adoption. The PFR is essential to ensuring that putative (supposed) fathers have an opportunity to record their names with the state and be notified of any private or public adoption that is or may be filed for their registered child. We all agree that an adoption can be very rewarding to a child as well as to the adoptive parents. However, it’s critical to allow a potential father an opportunity to insert his wishes for his potential child. The putative father has an opportunity to establish paternity and subsequently petition the court for access to and/or custody of his child. The putative father can request his name be entered in the registry during mom’s pregnancy or up to 15 days after the birth of the baby. Not all states have a registry dedicated to ensuring possible fathers have a process in which to determine father-child-relationship and gain custody of their infants during an adoption process. As Ohio continues to lead the nation in educating, engaging, and empowering fathers to be good parents, partners, and providers, this collaboration shows the improved efficiency since OCF and Regulatory Compliance are under the same DCY umbrella.