CLEVELAND, Ohio – No matter how long it takes to find a suitable placement, officials say it is inevitable that children will remain in the Cuyahoga County social services office building and the process may take several weeks. However, the county does not yet have a coordinated plan for how to feed children in custody.
Schools, day care centers and residential facilities have nutritional requirements for all meals to ensure that adolescents are getting fruits, vegetables, whole grains and milk. ohio law It also requires foster parents who house children in the county’s custody to provide a “nutritious” and “balanced” diet.
But there is no such policy governing how the county’s Department of Children and Family Services feeds the young people who live in Jane Edna Hunter’s office building.
The county and its top health and human services officials have repeatedly insisted that the children in their custody are fed a balanced diet.
“Our policy is to feed them the same way we feed ourselves,” said County Press Secretary Mary Louise Madigan. cleveland.com And The Plain Dealer issued a statement via email in April.
The types of meals offered will vary according to each child’s preferences, but staff “look for compromises” and “consider not only processed foods but also the amount of sugar children are consuming.” she said.
Health and Human Services Director David Merriman and DCFS Director Jacqueline Fletcher echoed the same statement. Conversation in March cleveland.comMerriman says children in the building, from toddlers to teens, will have healthy options along with other comfort foods meant to reassure them after being separated from their homes or foster homes. said to be provided.
“Sometimes it’s fruits and vegetables, but other times I want a kraft mac and cheese,” he said, defending his daughter’s eating similar items in school lunches. “Many kids eat macaroni and cheese in the microwave.”
Ms. Fletcher agreed, saying she once bought a salad for a child who requested it from a staff member. Participating in social services was not a normal experience, she told Cleveland.com at the time, but they were trying to normalize social services by at least providing the kind of food children could eat at home. “I try to give my kids every option I can,” she said. I want my child in terms of nutrition. ”
DCFS groceries tell a different story.
According to the receipts, the children ate mostly sugary processed foods sold in vending machines or microwaved, and ate little or no fruits and vegetables.
Receipts show the county spent $8,308 on groceries to feed youth staying in nurseries in 2022, whether they stayed for an hour at a time or for weeks. An analysis of these purchases found that counties purchased:
- $2,300 on meals including frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, French fries, frozen meals, ramen, hot dogs
- $1,000 on the lunch menu
- $1,042 in chips
- $500 on Little Debbie’s Variety of Snacks
- $374 for cereal and pop tarts
- $187 for a cookie or Rice Krispies treat
By comparison, the county spent just $21 on applesauce and fruit cups that year, and $10 on each bag of apples and oranges. Receipts don’t seem to reflect purchases that are specific to fresh or frozen vegetables.
Receipts show that for beverages, the county primarily purchases water along with various flavored mixers. Little juice was purchased, and there was no evidence the county supplied soda.
Remaining expenses include baby food, paper plates, plastic cups, cutlery, food storage bags, laundry detergent, and other miscellaneous items.
cleveland.com, through a county spokesperson, made several attempts to contact Fletcher and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronain for comment and clarification about how young people were eating in the building. . That included confirming staff reports that the nursery’s new overseer now prioritizes serving young people. Several kinds of fruits and vegetables every day. The county said it was unable to provide grocery receipts for 2023.
The county did not respond to specific questions, but shared two email responses from Mr. Fletcher.
“If children are in our building because their parents are unable or unwilling to care for them, we will keep them at home,” the statement said in the first email sent Monday. I treat my children with the same love and care that I would treat my own.”
An hour later, Mr. Fletcher sent a second statement:
“As we continue to address the statewide placement and treatment crisis, local children come to us with a variety of challenges,” she said. “We strive to meet the needs of each child and consider how best to ensure that children receive the treatment and support they deserve, including providing a range of dietary options where appropriate.”
comfort and care
There are other ways children and teens can be fed while inside the county building, but those options are infrequent and difficult to track.
In some cases, youth social workers take young people to restaurants or buy their favorite foods from shops, but the cost of the meal is paid for by the staff, so how often does this happen? The county said it wasn’t practical to pull out a report to find out how often it happened.
There is also a privately run café inside the DCFS offices, where staff and visitors can enjoy hot breakfasts and cooked meals from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Youth can also eat there, the county explained, but those purchases also have separate costs, making it impractical to track.
rear cleveland.com But while the county started asking questions about nutrition and children’s diets, it changed the process. Madigan said staff are now required to submit purchase orders when buying food for young people at cafes.
In April, the first month of the change, Madigan said the county spent $280 to feed young people at cafes.
Merriman previously emphasized: cleveland.com The main DCFS strategy is to provide children with as much food as possible to make them more comfortable while in the building during the stressful and potentially traumatic experience of having to leave home and family. said it was to give. The staff will ask, “Do you have a favorite meal?”and try to provide it, he said cleveland.com March.
Snack meals are helpful for most children who will be in foster care or other facilities for less than 24 hours. Merriman said they were “expected” to be properly nourished once they were deployed.
But the county has long struggled to retain young people (mostly teens) who have mental health or behavioral problems, or who are facing criminal charges. These children may stay in the building for weeks or months at a time, sleeping on air mattresses in nursery rooms and repeatedly eating food microwaved by staff.
There is no full-service kitchen in the building, and the county did not respond to questions about cooking utensils available to other employees. But Madigan suggested he wants to expand his options.
“We will soon be purchasing or collecting donations for small appliances, including electric frying pans, so that we can serve more breakfasts,” she said.
Minimum nutrition standards elsewhere
Limited in-building dining options show how child services offices are ill-equipped to accommodate young people in the absence of adequate nursing homes and nursing homes to meet their needs. Another example.
It states that the Public Child Services Agency’s purpose is to “evaluate and investigate reports of child abuse, neglect, or dependence as required by state law.” Ohio Department of Employment and Family Services website. No word on what would happen if the county itself became the de facto primary caregiver.
Ohio Department of Employment and Family Services spokesperson Dacia Clemente said, “While there are dietary requirements for young people in foster care and residential care, they explicitly apply to young people who are not already in these facilities. It won’t,” he said.
The Ohio Revised Act only requires those who have legal custody of a child to provide “adequate care,” including “adequate feeding,” and does not define what “adequate” means. do not have. It also requires housing centers and group homes to provide young people with “three nutritious meals a day” that “meet the latest USDA dietary guidelines.”
However, ODJFS said the state law “certainly addresses” gray areas between placements, noting that “courts, agents, resource caregivers, residential facilities, or employees of agencies, courts, residential facilities, volunteers, etc. , interns, or subcontractors must not engage in any conduct.” How to violate children’s rights. This includes the right to access to the same types of “nutritious” and “balanced” food that they are obliged to receive in foster homes.
State law does not seem to define “nutritious” or “balanced” precisely, but these terms are defined elsewhere A place where young people receive care.
The Richard B. Russell National School Feeding Act “ensures program integrity and taxpayer responsible use by providing children with healthy foods that optimize health and academic performance and minimize lingering risks.” Requires school meals to meet minimum nutritional standards to support – Regular chronic illness. ”
That means tracking calories, sodium, and saturated fat, and ensuring that all meals include age-appropriate amounts of fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and milk.
“Any calorie source (solid fat or added sugars) may be added to the dietary pattern as long as it falls within the calorie, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium standards,” the rule states.
Child or adult day care centers that provide meals are subject to similar federal regulations. Child and Adult Care Diet ProgramThe paper states that health care providers “have a powerful opportunity to instill in young children healthy habits that will underpin healthy choices in life.”
The regulation goes so far as to limit the variety of breakfast cereals served to “no more than 6 grams of sugar per dry ounce,” and mentions how to accommodate picky eaters.
“Each adult daycare center and at-risk after-school program must provide all necessary meals for participants…” However, “participants may be permitted to decline. ”
However, it states that if a child refuses one food option, an alternative food should be offered.
Scott Brittan, deputy director of the Ohio Public Child Services Association, said he was unaware of any state or national guidelines for diet and nutrition in child services offices.
PCSAO is a non-profit membership organization that advocates for policies and programs that support the industry and its families. Brittan said he has no authority over government agencies and doesn’t track individual policies, but some agencies are forced to stay in their buildings to better serve young people. I know you are making changes to
Agencies in northeastern Ohio have set up separate beds and bathrooms for children who have to sleep overnight, he said, but declined to specify.
“Different institutions are trying to find at least a comfortable and quiet place in case[the children]have to spend the night, depending on the resources available and the space available,” he said. said.
But so far, none of the agencies are talking about developing uniform policies on how they operate or what kind of care should be provided, such as how children are fed during their stay. Until agencies find a solution to the recruitment crisis, he said, it might be something to consider.
“We believe this is very important and we need a statewide solution and statewide leadership from multiple systems,” Brittan said.
