A new partnership in Allen County will help improve the outcome of both children and parents who are affected by parental substance abuse.
The Ohio Sobriety, Treatment and Reducing Trauma program, or START, was started by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2017 and is now being implemented in Allen County. The goal of the program is to provide a wide range of support for parents and their children in the system who are struggling with addiction.
Allen County Children Services in partnership with Coleman Professional Services will be working with families to help curb the rising number of children entering foster care.
Sarah Newland, the interim director of Allen County Children Services says, “When we can safely keep a child in the home while providing services to address the concerns, that would be our goal of what we want to achieve here in Allen County.”
Lisa Ashafa, the director of peer services at Coleman continues, “The best-case scenario is that people will get better, parents will find recovery, kids will get their full parents back into being productive families.”
The Ohio START program will guide families through every step of the social service system and recovery process. Children Services will be assessing new cases and placing families in the START program as they see fit.
