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The Vindicator
11 percent increase
in kids in protective custody since 2010 from opioid crisis
Mahoning County Children Services may not seem like a front line in the
battle against the opioid epidemic, but a representative of the state
Attorney General’s heroin unit addressed caseworkers at the agency
Tuesday.
Alisha Nelson, a community outreach specialist for the Ohio Attorney
General’s office, outlined the epidemic and asked the caseworkers about
their experiences.
“The stories that I hear about the kids that are impacted are the
hardest stories to listen to,” Nelson said.
County agency Director Randall Muth said it's important to focus on the
impact this has on children because it’s huge.
There has been an 11 percent increase in children in protective custody
across the state since 2010, according to a report by the Public
Children Services Association of Ohio. About half of the children taken
into custody in 2015 had parents who use drugs.
Nelson said the Attorney General’s Sobriety, Treatment and Reducing
Trauma, or START, program works to get those parents into treatment and
keep families together.
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