Before the full Senate vote, bill sponsor State Rep. Dorothy Pelanda, R-Marysville said she didn’t want to jinx it, but she was confident the bill would wind up on the governor’s desk.
“I just feel it will be such a victory for the 67,000 individuals that find themselves in a guardianship and such a victory for the 1,100 foster youth who age out of the system each year, never having been successfully placed or adopted,” she said.
The bill also contains provisions for a guardianship guide. What it doesn’t contain is an appropriation; however, $550,000 has been inserted in another appropriation bill to plan implementation.
Sen. John Eklund, a Munson Twp. Republican who introduced a bill in the Senate that virtually mirrored Pelanda's bill, minus the guardian component, said he was "pretty darn confident" the bill would pass, shortly before he went in to cast his vote.
Earlier this month he was a little nervous about the bill because there is money involved. Eklund said he was very pleased the bill passed.
“I’m very happy now that we’ve set the stage to help these young people transition into adulthood in a way that will hopefully help them for many, many years thereafter,” he said. “We’ve set the stage and I have every hope that in the next biennium budget we’ll put the money in place to actually execute on the program in the next fiscal year.”
Locally, Children Services Director Bill Morrison said there are 58 children who would benefit from the new law if it were in effect today. He said it would be hard for anyone to argue this isn’t a good idea. Now he just hopes the state keeps its end of the bargain and provides the 38 percent match — the federal government will pick up the rest.
“We, like all Children Services agencies, continue to be a little concerned about the funding piece,” he said. “They said they’ll consider it in the next budget… I assume they’ll do that. I think the fear is they’ll take money away from one of our allocations and move it to this, so that it’s wash.”
The finance committee picked House Bill 50 over Eklund’s bill because it has already cleared one chamber. Two amendments were added to the bill in the Senate, one changed the effective date from July 2017 to 15 months from the effective date of the law — the law takes effect 90 days after the governor signs it. The other amendment pertains to the guardianship component of the bill.
Joe Andrews, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, said they haven’t seen the bill so don’t know if they will support it or not.
“We have not received the bill,” Andrews said. “When we get it, we will take a look.”
When House Bill 50 was first introduced, the appropriation was $300,000 this year to plan and $4.5 million worth of state and federal funds to implement in 2017. In the version that passed 28 to 3 in the House Finance Committee, the new price tag was $550,000 for planning purposes and $24.5 million — $9.7 million state share — for implementation.
The federal government passed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act in 2008 that allows the use of federal dollars to expand foster care. There are 26 other states that have adopted similar legislation. Mark Mecum, chair of Ohio Fostering Connections, said he is happy Ohio joined half of the rest of the nation.
“Today some of Ohio’s most vulnerable young people can celebrate the prospects of a brighter future,” Mecum, said. “With the passage of House Bill 50, Ohio can begin the process of launching a program of core support services to help youth who age out of foster care to bridge more successfully to adulthood. We applaud Rep. Dorothy Pelanda, Rep. Cheryl Grossman and Sen. John Eklund for championing this important legislation.”
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