With more than 1,400 Lucas County children confirmed to have been victims of child abuse or neglect in Lucas County last year, Lucas County Children Services (LCCS) is once again calling on the community to help raise awareness of this problem by holding events that shed light on its impact. Wear Blue Day For the 12th consecutive year, LCCS, WTOL, KISSFM, 101.5 The River, and Lamar Outdoor are sponsoring Wear Blue Day on Wednesday, April 12. The campaign calls on citizens who live, work, play and attend school in Lucas County to post photos of themselves wearing blue to the LCCS Facebook page, with the hashtag #OhioWearsBlue.
The goal is to raise awareness that child abuse continues to impact youth in the 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/gen eral-inquiries/.
Child Memorial
On Thursday, April 27, at 11 a.m., the organization will host its annual Child Memorial at the Conference and Learning Center, 711 Adams Street. Ohio Senator Paula Hicks-Hudson will be the keynote speaker.
This year’s ceremony will remember 17 children lost since the April 2022 memorial, and who ranged in age from a few weeks to 17 years old. Eight of the children were victims of abuse or neglect, and all but one was under the age of 4. The remaining nine youths were teen victims of community gun violence; they ranged in age from 14 to 17 years.
“Fewer children entered LCCS custody in 2022, though the families we did see came to us with more serious and complex problems. On a more positive note, the number of children (12,571) and families (4,866) we served declined seven to eight percent from 2021. We believe we can attribute the declines to the child abuse prevention work LCCS and its collaborative partners have been doing in the community to empower families to resolve their own problems before this agency has to get involved,” said Donna Seed, LCCS interim executive director.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) modified a number of practice rules and programs to help more families keep their children safe at home, or with kin, instead of entering foster care.
LCCS participated in developing and piloting several of these state-level programs; the result was that more than 70 percent of children receiving services remained in their own home when safe to do so or with a kinship caregiver.
Other key statistics for 2022 include:
•There were a total of 1,410 substantiated victims of abuse/neglect following investigation in 2022, a decrease of 23 percent.
•525 children left LCCS custody during 2022, an increase of 29 percent. Of those, reunifications with family jumped 49 percent and legal custody granted to a relative increased 42 percent.
•Substance abuse remained the most common reason for cases, representing more than half of all cases in 2022.
The mission of Lucas County Children Services is to lead the community in the protection of children at risk of abuse and neglect. This is accomplished by working with families, service providers and community members to assess risk and coordinate community- based services resulting in safe, stable and permanent families for children.
