MOUNT VERNON — Children services caseworkers celebrate success at Knox County Job & Family Services, although the stories sometimes take a back seat to skyrocketing costs and substance abuse.
As of March 19, the agency had 63 children in its custody. Placements range from foster and group homes to residential settings.
Children Services Administrator Danielle Crider cited one success story where JFS removed five children from three families in one day. JFS placed all of the children in-county, either in a licensed foster home or with kinship caregivers.
Crider said keeping youths local has been a “huge goal for us for many years.”
“To be able to do that with five kids in one day was a good accomplishment for us,” she said.
Another success is a girl placed in Florida for 18 months due to intense needs. She now receives care in Columbus and is improving.
In addition to pending and finalized adoptions, Crider said youth emancipate from JFS’ care and move on to self-sufficiency.
“The community doesn’t always hear about those, but we had a few of those in 2025,” Crider said.
Crider cited a youth who graduated, received her LPN degree, and is ready to move out on her own.
“We have kids entering the workforce as well. Happy stories that may not be adoption. We’ve had kids go to college, we’ve had kids enter the military,” she said.
“There’s just been a lot of positive outcomes to kids that have been in the ‘system’ that are on their way to being productive contributors to the community.”
An ongoing financial struggle
“Our placement costs right now range anywhere from $23 a day per kid to $800 per day per kid, depending on the level of care,” Crider told the commissioners last month.
JFS Director Scott Boone said the expenses for placement feel insurmountable.
“While Danielle has essentially cut the number of kids in custody in half since years ago, our expenses are still greater than they were last year, five years ago, and so on,” he said.
“That’s not just a Knox County problem; it’s a statewide issue.”
Although the $1 million the commissioners have contributed to the JFS budget each of the past several years has helped, Boone said, “We’re at the end of our rope next year when the levy runs out.”
“We have to plan for increase, increase, increase, so we’re hemorrhaging a bit.”
Scott Boone, JFS director
The children services levy generates around $2 million annually.
“We’re going to have to make some difficult decisions in terms of how we make that funding up,” Boone said.
“At one point, the placement cost was around $3 million plus per year. Even with our best efforts to reduce the number of kids in care, the projections are this expense will continue to inflate despite any efforts at the state level to try to even things out.”
Holding facilities accountable is critical
Because of the high cost, Crider said holding facilities accountable is important.
“We pay a lot of money for services; in any other setting, you would be evaluating and reevaluating contracts and services based on what you’re getting and not getting,” she said.
Crider said her leadership team meets weekly to review the 13 to 15 high-cost youths to ensure JFS is getting what it is paying for and that youths are getting the services they need.
“What is our discharge plan? Day 1, you should be talking about a discharge plan for this kid to step down, because it’s not healthy for the youth to stay in an institutionalized setting for a long period of time,” she said.
Neglect remains the number one substantiated allegation. Among those, 75% have some kind of substance use disorder, which Crider said increases the complexity of the case.
The most frequent drug clients test positive for is methamphetamine. However, JFS staff have seen a rise in cocaine.
“We also see fentanyl, which leads to a lot of safety precautions that we have to put in place for our staff and the children,” Crider said.
Despite the challenges, Boone said JFS staff are doing an admirable job.
One way JFS works to ensure caseworkers’ well-being is through PACT: Practice in Action Together.
PACT is a state initiative that operates on the philosophy that families can recover, heal, and grow.
“It’s really a way for us to improve our practice with families to help them be more successful and reduce child abuse and neglect in the county,” Crider explained.
“Then there’s less that the caseworkers have to see on the extreme level, and we can really help at the beginning of a case versus being reactive.”
