Sandusky County accepted into Ohio START program

Daniel Carson
Fremont News-Messenger
Melanie Allen, director of Sandusky County Job and Family Services, said the Ohio Sobriety Treatment and Reducing Trauma (START) program improves outcomes for both parents and children affected by child maltreatment and parental substance use disorders.

FREMONT —Sandusky County is one of four counties to be accepted into the Ohio Sobriety Treatment and Reducing Trauma (START) program, as the county looks to better assist children and families dealing with parental substance use, addiction and child mistreatment issues.

Melanie Allen, director of Sandusky County Job and Family Services, said the program is led by the Public Children Services Association of Ohio (PCSAO).

She said Sandusky County will have a case manager specifically dedicated to START cases, with the county collaborating with local mental health agencies to help families with reunification and working through substance use and addiction issues.

Allen said there will also be a peer support mentor involved to help adults struggling with sobriety, something she believes will help give a little more understanding for people fighting with addictions.

"That's going to bring a little more intensive services that I think we need in this county," Allen said.

The county first applied to join START in 2018.

Ohio START is a program created by then-Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's office as a response to the state's opioid epidemic. It and is centered on the concept that substance use disorders and addiction are family diseases, with recovery occurring in the context of families and adult recovery and having a parent-child component.

It began as a pilot program with 14 counties in Appalachian Ohio and quickly added three additional counties at the beginning of 2018.

Allen said almost 3,000 Ohio residents, including 1,659 children, have been served by the program, based on data from START's website.

She said Sandusky County will be tracking the number of county reunifications between children and parents through START.

Sandusky County's entrance into the START program comes as the county's JFS continues to see the damage done to local children and families from addiction and substance abuse.

Allen said there were 730 children involved in 2021 JFS investigations.

She said the agency dealt with 15 overdoses last year involving a parent or adult in a home, compared to seven in 2020.

There was a similar amount of "tox-positive" babies born with drugs in their systems in 2020 and 2021.

Allen said those babies deal with severe withdrawals and sometimes have to be weaned off drugs with methadone.

She said one day last week, her agency received two calls regarding tox-positive babies, with one testing positive for fentanyl.

For START, Allen said there will be community forums scheduled where information will be shared to the public regarding the program.

She said Meagan Myers

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