Ohio's Prevention Approach Takes Center Stage at the 20th Annual Safe Babies Cross Sites Convening
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Dominique Johnson, Policy Associate
Follow Dominique on LinkedIn.
As the statewide coordinating entity for Ohio’s Safe Babies Program, Groundwork Ohio joined partners from across the country at the 20th Annual Safe Babies Cross Sites Convening, hosted by ZERO TO THREE and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The convening brought together judges, community coordinators, family peer mentors, state leaders, federal partners, and technical assistance providers to celebrate two decades of Safe Babies while sharing ideas to strengthen outcomes for infants, toddlers, and families.
This convening highlighted the ways Ohio's Safe Babies team is redefining the national approach by focusing on prevention, working with families before the trauma of child removal occurs whenever possible, and how those lessons are informing Safe Babies work across the country.
Ohio's Family Outcomes Recognized by HRSA
Safe Babies, a program by ZERO TO THREE, was established in the 1990s to prioritize the unique developmental needs of infants and toddlers involved in the child welfare system. The program has grown substantially in popularity and impact, now operating in an estimated 142 communities across 30 states. Through HRSA, the federal government has invested in Ohio as one of the country’s 12 Statewide Expansion Sites for Safe Babies. Before the full Cross Sites convening began, the HRSA grantee states gathered for a full day to share accomplishments and promising practices.
Since launching the country’s first prevention-focused Safe Babies site in Cuyahoga County in January 2025, 7 of 11 families served last year closed their child welfare cases without a removal, with even more families being supported this year.
Ohio was also recognized for using Protective Factors surveys to measure the impact of this prevention-focused approach, with results showing meaningful improvements for families, including:
53% increase in family functioning and resilience
63% increase in nurturing and attachment
107% increase in access to social supports
120% increase in access to concrete supports
These conversations also gave grantees an opportunity to explore how Safe Babies work aligns with broader federal priorities, including healthcare transformation, childhood chronic disease prevention, and partnerships with home visiting and other early childhood initiatives.
Building a Sustainable Future
In a 2026 application led by Groundwork Ohio, our state was selected as one of six states to participate in ZERO TO THREE's Sustainability Policy Collaborative. As part of this collaborative, Ohio assembled a multidisciplinary team including Jennifer Millisor from the Public Children Services Association of Ohio (PCSAO), Nicole Sillaman, Executive Director of the Ohio Children's Trust Fund, and Tequilla Washington, Children's Justice and Court Engagement Program Administrator at the Ohio Department of Children and Youth. Together, this team has been working to develop Ohio's long-term sustainability plan for the Safe Babies initiative. It was through participation in this Sustainability Policy Collaborative that I was invited to share how Ohio has approached Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) differently as we shifted our Safe Babies work upstream to focus on preventing child welfare involvement before court intervention occurs.
Rather than measuring only traditional court outcomes, we are building a framework that captures family experiences, community collaboration, and the barriers families face before child welfare involvement occurs.
Ohio was invited to participate in a closed session with other states participating in the Sustainability Policy Collaborative, where ZERO TO THREE hosted a data walk featuring examples of strong data collection practices from states across the country. Ohio was highlighted in two areas. Cuyahoga County's parent experience data demonstrated how families increasingly felt valued, respected, and supported by their Community Coordinators throughout their engagement with Safe Babies. Lucas County's Active Community Team (ACT) survey was also recognized as an example of measuring the impact of community collaboration, with:
95.5% of participants reporting stronger collaboration across agencies
81.8% agreeing ACT meetings provide valuable information and resources
Nearly one third (33.3%) of ACT participants reporting new partnerships or collaborative projects as a result of participation.
These examples reinforced that measuring both family experiences and community collaboration tells a more complete story about prevention.
Celebrating Twenty Years of Safe Babies
The official opening session celebrated twenty years of Safe Babies and reflected on how the model has evolved across the country. Ohio was recognized throughout the celebration for our commitment to listening to families and allowing their voices to guide our work.
Ohio's newest partnership with Nationwide Children's Hospital was also highlighted as the first Safe Babies site nationally to be embedded within a healthcare system, an exciting milestone that creates new opportunities to identify and support families earlier through healthcare partnerships.
Throughout the convening, Ohio's local leaders in Lucas, Cuyahoga, and Scioto counties shared their expertise on the national stage. Cuyahoga County Community Coordinator Delaney Jones presented during a session on advancing prevention through Safe Babies Active Community Teams. Using a real Ohio family experience, the presentation explored the barriers many families face when trying to access services, highlighting the importance of prevention efforts to improve coordination across community partners.
Later, I led a breakout session, "Building Prevention Without the Court: Ohio's Barriers, Pivots, and Breakthroughs," alongside Cuyahoga County Community Coordinator Delaney Jones, Scioto County Community Coordinator Jordan Oberling, and Lucas County Active Community Team member Olivia Leverich from Harbor.
Nearly 80 participants from across the country, including state leaders, community coordinators, family peer support specialists, and judges, joined us to learn about Ohio's journey from a court-based model to an upstream prevention approach.
Together we discussed the successes, challenges, partnerships, referral pathways, and community collaborations that have shaped Ohio's work while helping participants think through what it would take to implement similar prevention-focused approaches in their own communities.
Bringing It Home
Before returning to Ohio, our state team spent dedicated time reflecting on everything we learned and identifying how those ideas could strengthen our work moving forward.
The convening concluded with a panel on economic security and upstream prevention featuring Cuyahoga County Community Coordinator Maddy Moser.
Maddy shared the story behind Cuyahoga County's Emergency Family Fund, which provides small, flexible financial assistance for urgent needs such as preventing utility shutoffs, transportation to employment opportunities, or securing housing. The discussion reinforced what families have consistently told us throughout Ohio's work, that addressing immediate material hardships can prevent larger crises and reduce the likelihood of deeper child welfare involvement.
Looking Ahead
This year's convening reinforced Ohio's leadership in advancing prevention-focused Safe Babies work. Through our data, partnerships, and willingness to rethink traditional approaches, Ohio continues to demonstrate how supporting families earlier can strengthen outcomes for infants, toddlers, and caregivers.
We are grateful to ZERO TO THREE, HRSA, our Community Coordinators, Advisory Group members, and community partners for their continued collaboration. We return to Ohio energized and committed to continuing this important work.
Interested in learning more or getting involved?
