Funding and technical assistance have been awarded to enhance Ohio court operations for children and families and to improve outcomes for youth. The grants, totaling $912,400, and the technical support were announced by the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Children and Families Section in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Children and Youth.  

The awards will support courts as they implement innovative strategies to strengthen child welfare practices, improve legal representation, and foster collaborative solutions for children and families in cases of adoption or abuse, neglect, and dependency. The opportunities are funded through the federal Court Improvement Program and the Children’s Justice Act.

Mediation in Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency Cases
Funding of $135,000 will expand mediation services in abuse, neglect, and dependency cases in two courts:

• Lorain County Common Pleas Court, Domestic Relations and Juvenile Divisions
• Wayne County Common Pleas Court, Probate and Juvenile Division

Mediation Regarding School Attendance
To address school absenteeism concerns using collaborative and restorative approaches, $57,400 in mediation grants have been awarded to:

• Adams County Common Pleas Court, Juvenile Division
• Champaign County Family Court
• Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Juvenile Division
• Wayne County Common Pleas Court, Probate and Juvenile Division

Multidisciplinary Legal Representation
Grants totaling $720,000 will support multidisciplinary models of legal representation. The models provide parents in child welfare cases with support from a team made up of an attorney, a social worker, and a parent advocate. Pilot programs operating between 2021 and 2025 in the six counties below provided services to 452 families with 1,043 children. They received funding to continue their efforts.

• Clark County
• Cuyahoga County
• Erie County
• Summit County
• Stark County
• Wayne County

Programs for Youth in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems
Continued technical assistance from a national resource center to support initiatives to improve coordination for youth involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems has been awarded to four Ohio courts:

• Coshocton County Common Pleas Court, Probate and Juvenile Division
• Franklin County Common Pleas Court, Division of Domestic Relations and Juvenile Branch
• Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, Juvenile Division
• Union County Common Pleas Court, Probate and Juvenile Divisions