COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Franklin County Children Services caseworkers have begun receiving additional training from the state following the deaths of five children over the course of 15 months.
The first training session was held earlier this week, according to the Department of Children and Youth (DCY)Chief Communications Officer Jodi Norton Trimble.
She said additional sessions may happen to accommodate various schedules of the agency’s case workers.
“The training is specific to enhancing multiple aspects of conducting quality face-to-face contacts with families, as this is critical to effective practice,” she said. “DCY is providing coaching to enhance case workers’ ability to successfully prepare and plan for the contact as well as conducting the face-to-face contact to obtain quality information critical to assessing safety.”
The state is working with the county to review the deaths, which occurred after the family of each child had been working with children services.
A parent or caregiver has been charged criminally in each case.
Trimble told ABC 6/FOX 28 that since the death of five-year-old Darnell Taylor in February 2024, the state has worked with Franklin County Children Services to surge additional resources and supports identified through collaborative reviews, case-specific discussions, and identified improvement opportunities.
“Every child fatality is alarming, flags our interaction and review, and elevates our involvement with the county agencies,” Trimble said.
Franklin County Children Services spokesman Scott Varner told ABC 6/FOX 28, “Any time there is a child fatality or near fatality connected to our agency, our partners at the state are right there with us and making sure they have that same information.”
Varner declined to talk about caseworkers assigned to the Taylor’s family or the families of the other children, which include eight-year-old Martonio Wilder, three-year-old Emmanuel Mims, five-year-old Ja’Kai Smith, and six-year-old Eva Bretz.
Children services is conducting an internal review as well.
Franklin County Family Services Director Emily Green said some of those remain in early stages.
“A lot of what’s happening right now, especially in regards to some of the more recent tragedies, is that we’re still working actively with the families. We’re still trying to gather more information,” Green said.
Children services won’t discuss the caseworker assigned to a particular family.
“Casework is very, very tough. They are asked to make some tough decisions often based on limited information,” Varner said. “As a system, as a community, we need to make sure that we are providing as best information possible about these young people so we can make decisions that will help keep kids safer.”
Trimble said Franklin County has a “robust” Quality Improvement Department.
“We are working closely with Franklin County now to review each case, to identify areas of concern through ongoing meetings and case-specific discussions, and continue to look at the data to identify any trends or similarities,” Trimble said.
The Department of Children and Youth previously outlined three areas of collaboration:
Fatality Reviews – the state conducts independent reviews and partners with Franklin County Children Services on their separate reviews, which include ongoing meetings and case-specific discussions.Protection and Oversight – Over the last year, Franklin County has been participating in activities to evaluate standard practices, which would include timely investigation and quality face-to-face interviews. Currently, DCY is preparing to provide training to ongoing caseworkers to ensure quality face-to-face interviews and contacts with families, as these interactions are critical to safety assessment.Recent Deaths – DCY continues to evaluate data and case trends and works closely with Franklin County Children Services to determine case similarities and possible triggers to further engagement.
ABC 6/FOX 28 has received DCY fatality review summaries for three of the cases; however, the much of documents have be redacted to due privacy laws, according to Trimble.
Varner said the county agency has already identified a trend: three of the five child deaths involved a boyfriend or girlfriend changing the family’s dynamic.
“We’re seeing that abuse, and as domestic violence grows across our community, I think our fear grows that more children could be abused as part of that,” he said.
Franklin County Children Services is seeking to donate $500,000 to LSS CHOICES, which is the county’s only emergency domestic violence center.
Staff told ABC 6/FOX 28 that half of the people at that shelter are children on any given night.
The board of trustees for Franklin County Children Services is to vote on the funding on May 29th.
