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For Your Awareness
Updates to the DCY KIDS Main Phone Line
The Department of Children and Youth (DCY) values excellent customer service and strives to provide stakeholders with an effective and efficient customer experience. Therefore, DCY has revamped the main call line to better align with the current needs of the caller, our services, and departmental structure.
 Click on photo for larger view.
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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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New Maternal and Infant Vitality Initiative Will Maintain Focus on Maternal Disparities
The Department of Children and Youth (DCY) is excited to share key updates for the Ohio Equity Initiative (OEI). As of the beginning State Fiscal Year (SFY) 26, (July 1, 2025) OEI is now called the Maternal and Infant Vitality Initiative (MIV).
What’s Changing?
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New Name: OEI has been renamed as the Maternal and Infant Vitality Initiative (MIV) to clarify the purpose and intent of the funding, avoid potential conflicts with other funding streams, and distinguish it from other state programs.
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Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR): This critical work will be funded directly by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and will maintain a strong collaboration with MIV in order to maintain alignment with the Child Care Review process, also managed by ODH.
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Health Equity Scope of Work: After evaluating outcomes and reviewing infant mortality data, this scope of work will not be continued under MIV in SFY26. Over the past 3.5 years, OEI teams have led valuable internal efforts—from creating inclusive policies and health disparities teams to offering staff training and increasing awareness of health disparities. DCY deeply appreciates the dedication of those who spearheaded these efforts and hopes that the lessons learned can be sustained.
Our Vision for the Future
MIV26 will keep disparities central—especially by prioritizing communities most impacted by infant deaths, by addressing the root causes of disparities. MIV26 will strengthen:
- Neighborhood navigation,
- Strategic stakeholder engagement, and
- Data-informed decision-making.
DCY’s goal is bold and clear: reduce Ohio’s infant mortality rate and make Ohio a top 10 state to have a baby. As we move into this next chapter as MIV, we honor our past achievements and eagerly anticipate the road ahead. Together, we are transforming possibilities into progress.
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DCY Memos and Resources
No updates 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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Help Me Grow Home Visiting Conference
Receives Rave Reviews
DCY recently hosted four Help Me Grow Home Visiting Regional Conferences, bringing together more than 350 home visiting professionals for a day of learning and networking across Ohio in Cuyahoga Falls, Lima, Mt. Sterling, and Athens.
Bright Beginnings, Ohio’s central intake and referral partner, joined us at each event to share valuable Early Intervention and Home Visiting resources. They even set up a selfie-station for attendees to enjoy.
Each conference kicked off with a keynote presentation from Kim Kehl, DCY’s Trauma-Informed Care Project Manager, who spoke about applying a trauma-informed approach to home visiting and shared strategies for self-care while supporting families.
Attendees also participated in three breakout sessions focused on:
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Using data to measure the impact of home visiting services on family outcomes and drive continuous improvement
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Collaborating more effectively with local children services agencies
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Understanding the importance of early childhood mental health
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Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive:
“Best conference I have ever attended since being in HMG. Thank you!”
“Truly this has been one of the best conferences I have been to in my three years since beginning in home visiting. It was nice talking to people from our general area, hearing different ideas. And the topics were relevant.”
“It was interesting seeing the data for the county I serve.”
Over 96% of attendees agreed the conference met their expectations, and more than 98% found the training topics relevant to their job duties.
Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make these conferences such a success!
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Five-Part Webinar Series Explores Assessment Strategies
Join Ohio Department of Children and Youth's Diane Fox for an engaging and practical training series designed to help Part C assessors strengthen their assessment skills. Donuts with Di is a five-part webinar series that dives into effective strategies for initial and ongoing assessments. Explore ways to enhance your observation skills, make the most of record reviews, apply strong interviewing techniques, and confidently use assessment tools and standardized measures. Discover how to combine these methods in the IFSP process for more meaningful, individualized program planning. Let’s get curious together—donuts included!
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Initiatives work to connect educators, families, and youth to education
services and supports.
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Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Celebrates Milestone
 It's been 30 years since Dolly Parton gifted her first book in Sevier County, Tennessee and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library was born. Since then, one in seven children ages birth to five years old across the United States are receiving books from the Imagination Library.
In March, First Lady Fran DeWine (pictured above) celebrated 20 million books mailed from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Ohio. Mrs. DeWine read "The Coat of Many Colors," a book that's mailed to four-year-olds. She brought the book to life, as the children also made their own coat of many colors out of fabric scraps, like Dolly's mom did.
For more information about how Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Ohio helps children become kindergarten ready, visit the website and read the latest newsletter.
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Sensory Supplies and Other Technology Available to Borrow
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The Early Childhood Center of Excellence Collection includes equipment, materials, and assistive technology to create awareness of, access to, and widespread use of accessible tools in all early care and education settings in Ohio. They offer everything from pencil grips, to timers, to wobble seats, and so much more! Click the photo to explore the collection. |
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Fall 2024 KRA Results and Resources to Share with Parents
DCY is focused on making high-quality, well-resourced early care and education accessible for all Ohio families because children who start kindergarten demonstrating readiness do better in school. Doing better in school opens doors to opportunities that maximize a child’s chances to live their version of the American dream, something Governor DeWine and all of us at DCY hold as our vision. You, in your role as provider and/or partner, are a critical part of this work and our ability to move the state up from only one-third of children being kindergarten ready.
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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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Sales Tax Holiday Provides Savings for Ohio Families
DCY encourages our partners to remind your client families, youth, and young adults to take advantage of this year’s Sales Tax Holiday, beginning at 12 a.m (midnight) on Friday, August 1, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, August 14.
This year's Sales Tax Holiday, which will run for two full weeks, is designed to provide meaningful savings for families across the state.
In 2024, Governor DeWine and the Ohio General Assembly expanded the Sales Tax Holiday to include more items and run for a longer period. Instead of the usual three days, it lasted ten days and was expanded to include a wide range of items up to $500, rather than limited to school supplies.
“The timing of this year’s sales tax holiday not only supports families preparing for back-to-school, but also provides relief on other important household needs,” said Governor DeWine.
During the holiday, shoppers will be able to make qualifying purchases both in-store and online without paying state sales tax. The tax exemption does not apply to services or to purchases motor vehicles, watercraft, outboard motors, alcohol, tobacco, vapor products, or any item containing marijuana.
For full details, including eligible items and frequently asked questions, visit the Ohio Department of Taxation’s Sales Tax Holiday page. You can also contact the Department by email or by calling (888) 405-4039.
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DCY Memos and Resources
No updates 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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NACC Conference Scholarship Opportunity
The Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) is pleased to offer conference registration scholarships for the 48th National Child Welfare Law Conference, hosted by the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) in Cleveland, Ohio, from August 10–13, 2025.
Scholarships are available to the following professionals:
- Ohio child welfare attorneys
- Juvenile court judges and magistrates
- Guardians ad litem
- Children services agency staff
Scholarships will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis and will cover registration for the pre-conference and/or the onsite conference. Travel and lodging are not included.
If you are interested or have questions, please contact Tequilla Washington.
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Supporting Teams with Complex Needs
The Ohio Department of Children and Youth’s (DCY) placement team ensures that children and families receive the treatment and/or placement support to help them thrive. The placement team receives calls and emails from our public children services agencies (PCSA) and stakeholders across the state and responds when needed. (Link to article forthcoming.)
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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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Bridges Has Updates
The Department of Children and Youth (DCY) has implemented several important updates to the Bridges extended foster care program.
Eligibility criteria will now fully align with federal extended foster care guidelines and will offer greater flexibility in acceptable documentation. To qualify, participants must provide documentation, which may include, but is not limited to:
- a school or college enrollment letter,
- a current class schedule,
- paystubs from the most recent month of employment,
- a letter from a program to reduce barriers of employment, or
- written verification from a licensed professional confirming a physical or mental health condition preventing participation in the activities above.
Program eligibility redetermination will shift from a 30-day to a 180-day cycle. This change supports more consistent service engagement for participants and allows for more focus on the participant to reach their goals of self-sufficiency.
Contact
Young adults who have aged out of foster care, or individuals seeking to refer an eligible youth, are encouraged to visit the DCY Bridges website to connect with a program representative and begin the application process.
For further information, please contact: admin@cfhcohio.org or Bridges@childrenandyouth.ohio.gov.
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Summit Equips and Inspires Current and
Former Foster Youth
The OHIO YAB and ACTION Ohio facilitated a Leadership and Life Skills Summit last month to inform and empower current and former foster youth, ages 14-24.
More than 80 teens and young adults with a foster care history, representing 15 Ohio counties, attended the event in Columbus with support from the Ohio Children’s Alliance, the Dave Thomas Foundation, The Ohana Project, and DCY. Many young people were able to attend thanks to transportation provided by their counties.
DCY Director Kara Wente provided opening remarks at the Summit and expressed a commitment to listening to the insights of young people in and from foster care. Youth participants received shirts on which they could write down what they want decision-makers to know. The quote on the back of the shirts came from OHIO YAB Youth Ambassador Yonnae Ase: "Behind every policy is a person."
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DCY Memos and Resources
No updates at this time.
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