With more than 1,750 Lucas County children confirmed to have been victims of child abuse or neglect in the county in 2021, Lucas County Children Services is once again calling on the community at large to help raise awareness of the problem by holding events that shed light on its impact.
For the 11th consecutive year, LCCS, WTOL, KISSFM and 101.5 The River are sponsoring Wear Blue Day, on Wednesday, April 13. The campaign calls on citizens who live, work, play and attend school in the county to post photos of themselves wearing blue to the children’s services Facebook page, facebook.com/Lucas CountyChildrenServices, with the hashtag #Ohio WearsBlue.
The goal is to raise awareness that child abuse continues to impact youth in our community, and that everyone plays a role in keeping children safe.
Supporters interested in receiving a “Wear Blue” poster can request an electronic file by submitting their contact information at lucaskids.net/general-inquiries/.
On April 28, at 11 a.m., LCCS will livestream its annual Child Memorial on the agency’s Facebook page. This year’s ceremony will remember nine children lost in the last 12 months. For the first time in recent memory, none of these children died from abuse or neglect, but six were victims of community gun violence.
“In 2021, LCCS saw a 22 percent spike in the number of children entering agency custody, reflecting the seriousness of the cases we are encountering,” said Robin Reese, executive director.
“Our numbers have returned to prepandemic levels and now exceed them, as our community continues to struggle, particularly with gun violence and substance abuse. By December 31, 2021, we had served more than 13,500 children from nearly 5,300 families. Both are increases from 2020,” she added.
Ohio has implemented several changes to its child protection system that will keep more children safe at home, or with relatives, rather than in foster care.
With children’s services participating in several statelevel pilot programs, nearly three-quarters of children remained in their own home or with a relative caregiver.
Other key statistics for 2021 include:
•The 43604 zip code had the highest concentration of referrals in the county, more than twice the average county rate.
•The number of referrals for service in 2021, 4,857, exceeded the number of referrals in 2020 by five percent.
•Substance abuse remained the most common reason for LCCS to open a case, representing a third of all cases in 2021. Marijuana was the most cited drug, eclipsing heroin and opiates for the first time since the agency began tracking drug use as a reason for case opening in 2014.
