News 5 is following through on the efforts to fix the crisis in placement and emergency services in Cuyahoga County for our most vulnerable children.
For years, News 5 has reported on the problem and, now, the solutions, as well.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
On Wednesday, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne announced the Child Wellness Campus.
It will be located at the Cleveland Christian Home on the city's West Side and provide residential bed space for children with the highest level of need and no other place to go.
"I've wanted to change the narrative toward a wellness mentality and that we're here to help kids heal," said Ronayne. "The campus will provide services from unique, specialty service providers throughout the community that they can provide to the unique needs of each kid. It's also going to provide in a campus setting the dignity of housing, and the dignity of education, and the dignity of specialized care."
The county partnered with The Centers, which runs the Cleveland Christian Home, to make this possible.
Eric Morse, the president and CEO of The Centers, says they plan to start accepting children by the summer of 2024.
The crisis in placement and emergency services has, in recent years, had hard-to-place teens waiting much longer than the usual 24-hour turnaround time for placement in a foster home or other bed space.
That led to safety concerns for the kids and staff at the Jane Edna Hunter Social Services Center in downtown Cleveland.
Ronayne says the new Child Wellness Campus will immediately improve the lives of these children, staff, and community.
"This is a new front door that Cuyahoga County is partnering with The Centers and our partners throughout Cuyahoga County to provide a safe and a caring environment for kids who need us most in the moment of trauma," said Ronayne.
He said the county wanted to change its trajectory, and they've done that.
One of the first significant pieces to the solution came in March of 2023. News 5 was there when T-Suites opened.
T-Suites is in a renovated wing of the Cleveland Christian Home. This eight-bedroom facility provides a unique one-to-one ratio of staff to kids. It provides a safe place to land for 12 to 18-year-olds in all levels of county custody while they await placement.
They are young people with the highest needs for emotional, behavioral and mental health, including diversion from the juvenile court system.
T-Suites can't deny or eject a child referred to them, which didn't exist in Cuyahoga County until it opened.
Jacqueline Fletcher, director of the Division of Children and Family Services, says T-Suites has served more than 40 children this year. Children, she says, would've otherwise had to wait for space and services at the Jane Edna building.
"The partnership with The Centers, and Cleveland Christian Home with T-Suites has been a game-changer," said Fletcher.
She says they are committed to fixing this and getting children the necessary care immediately.
"We know families are experiencing this across all our communities, and this partnership that we've announced today is really an effort to expand that continuum of care to make sure no kid is waiting," she said.
Jennifer Johnson is the executive director of Canopy Child Advocacy Center. She and fellow child advocates were emotional during Wednesday’s announcement.
"For a long time, our kids in Cuyahoga County who experience a lot of trauma and need resources don't have somewhere to go where they can actually stay," said Johnson.
She has been a licensed independent social worker for 20 years in the county and says it's been frustrating and heartbreaking to see children every day unable to be placed.
But now, with the new residential bed space on the way, new hope is also here at home.
"You can only take people so far because without a proper place for them to stay long-term to get the care they need, we can't experience long-term healing and resiliency," she said. "This is a game-changer."
The $450,000 in funding from the county will be introduced at Monday's Board of Control meeting. It is expected to be approved. That will allow The Centers to start recruiting, hiring, and training staff for the new Child Wellness Campus.
The Centers says the cost to renovate the first three units at the Cleveland Christian Home is $3 million, and they'll need more to finish the campus.
Morse says they are working on funding sources but always welcome donations.
Also, Ronayne says he wants to create another central services campus that will be about justice services, to continue, he says, that continuum of care.
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