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Issue 26: January 21, 2025 |
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Maternal & Infant Wellness |
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Programs focus on eliminating health disparities, improving birth outcomes, and improving the health status of pregnant women, infants, and children to ensure moms and babies celebrate the child’s first birthday.
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No updates to share at this time. |
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DCY Memos and Resources
No updates to share at this time.
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Early Childhood Development |
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The Early Childhood Development programs provide technical assistance, education, and referrals for families and youth with evaluations regarding specific needs and disabilities.
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No updates to share at this time. |
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Initiatives work to connect educators, families, and youth to education
services and supports. |
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Early Care and Education Professionals Can Borrow Assistive Technology for Students
The Early Childhood Inclusion Center of Excellence (ECI CoE) has made adaptive resources available to Ohio's youngest learners. The ECI CoE Collection is curated with equipment, materials, and assistive technology to create awareness of, access to, and widespread use of, inclusive tools in all early care and education settings in the state. They have everything from pencil grips, to timers, to wobble seats, and so much more! Explore the Collection today!
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2025 ECHO on Children with Complex Needs and Sensory Disabilities
From OhioEd Updates 1/15/25
Project ECHO is an inter-professional practice network where education and related services professionals learn together through short, informational presentations on meeting the needs of students with complex needs, including sensory disabilities, and case-specific presentations. Case presentations allow participants to support a colleague through real-time problem solving, and the identification of possible strategies and solutions to support the individuals they serve. Considering submitting a case for consultation? Review the flyer to learn more and register.
Please share with district special education leaders!
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Family Support & Stabilization |
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Focuses on enhancing the resources and supports available to parents and families.
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Ohio Commission on Fatherhood to Meet
The next meeting of the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood (OCF) will take place Thursday, February 13, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Vern Riffe Building, 77 S. High St. 19th Floor, Conference Room 1948, in downtown Columbus.
This meeting is open to the public, but you must bring your photo identification. You may attend in-person or virtually by clicking here and entering the passcode 1999.
To review past meeting agendas, meeting minutes, and presentations, visit the OCF website.
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DCY Memos and Resources
No updates to share at this time.
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Children Services, Foster, Kinship, and Adoption |
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Children Services, Foster, Kinship, and Adoption programs provide caregivers with support via resources for their individualized needs.
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2025 Ohio Specific Child Welfare Law Virtual Training Series
The Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) partnered with the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) to develop and present a new Ohio-specific child welfare law virtual training series designed for Ohio child welfare attorneys.
This virtual three-part series is provided at no cost and will be presented live on the following dates:
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Session 1: High-Quality Legal Representation in Child Welfare Cases
Tuesday, February 11, 2025, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
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Session 2: Culturally Humble and Trauma-Informed Legal Representation in Child Welfare Cases
Tuesday, February 18, 2025, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
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Session 3: Complex Legal Issues in Child Welfare Cases
Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Each session will be recorded, and on-demand access will be available. This series is pending approval for 4.5 CLE credit for both the live virtual and on-demand participation formats.
Registration can be completed here. For questions, please contact Tequilla.Washington@childrenandyouth.ohio.gov.
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Programs are designed to provide support for teens and young adults who either are in foster care or have aged out of foster care systems and need assistance.
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Supporting Foster Youth in Post-Secondary Education
Now that we have rung in the New Year, high school seniors are counting down the five short months left until graduation. Post high school education plans can be exciting, but they can also be costly. DCY wants to take this opportunity to remind our public children services agencies that Independent Living (IL) Funds (Chafee and TANF IL) can be used to support eligible young adults pursuing post-secondary education. Additionally, Ohio offers the Ohio Education and Training Voucher program (ETV) to eligible students.
ETV is a federal program that provides eligible young adults who have experienced foster care with funding to offset the costs of post-secondary education. ETV is not just for college but can help offset costs for certificate/other accredited programs. ETV is available to young adults who have been accepted and enrolled in a college/certificate program and who:
- are currently in foster care
- have aged out of foster care on or after their 18th birthday
- left foster care on or after 16 years of age because they were adopted or entered legal guardianship.
Students can receive up to five years of ETV funding from 18 years old up to their 26th birthday. ETV participants must apply annually and can receive up to $5,000 per academic year. Funding can be used for tuition, fees, textbooks, tutoring, housing, living expenses, technology, transportation, childcare, etc. ETV recipients can also receive monthly one-on-one coaching with an ETV coordinator who will assist the youth with navigating their post-secondary education resources on campus and connect student with resources off campus.
Ohio partners with Foster Success Education Services to implement the Ohio ETV program. Foster Success Education Services recently sent out 200 marketing boxes to Ohio's high school guidance counselors with the largest number of foster youth enrolled and have started getting calls for more information. In addition to the targeted marketing, Foster Success Education Services increased outreach and engagement efforts by text, calls, emails and birthday cards resulting in an addition twenty-five new students.
To find out more about Ohio ETV or to fill out an application, visit their website. For more information on utilizing Independent Living Funds to support students, please refer to the Ohio Independent Living Skills Toolkit or connect with DCY’s Independent Living team.
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DCY Memos and Resources
No updates to share at this time.
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