Safe Babies Ohio Annual Retreat Brings Partners Together to Strengthen Prevention Work Across the State

The Safe Babies Ohio team recently gathered in Columbus for its annual in-person retreat, bringing together local site teams, statewide partners, and advisory group members focused on improving outcomes for young children and families involved in or at risk of entering the child welfare system.

The two-day retreat highlighted Ohio’s growing prevention-focused Safe Babies approach and the importance of collaboration across child welfare, early childhood, mental health, healthcare, and community systems.

The state team in attendance included Safe Babies Ohio state leadership, technical assistance partners from ZERO TO THREE, project management support from the Educational Service Center (ESC), community coordinators from local Safe Babies sites, and parent leadership representation.

Ohio’s newest emerging Safe Babies site in Franklin County also participated, including the newly hired Franklin County coordinator and leadership from Nationwide Children's Hospital Center for Family Safety and Healing.

The retreat also welcomed nearly 30 Safe Babies Advisory Group members representing organizations and systems from across Ohio, including:

• Early childhood advocacy and policy organizations

• Public Children Services Association of Ohio (PCSAO)

• Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) programs

• Peer recovery and family support programs

• The SPARK program

• Ohio’s Division of Children and Family Services

• Ohio Children’s Trust Fund

• Kinnect

• Supreme Court of Ohio’s Children & Families Section

• Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY)

• Additional cross-system community and prevention partners

Day one began with Groundwork Ohio Policy Associate and Safe Babies Ohio State Coordinator Dominique Johnson helping level-set for both returning and new participants by grounding everyone in the purpose and evolution of Ohio’s Safe Babies approach.

Dominique shared how Ohio has intentionally moved more upstream into prevention-focused work while still maintaining the core principles of the Safe Babies model, ensuring systems better understand early childhood development, reduce unnecessary trauma, and help prevent family separation whenever safely possible.

County sites then shared updates and outcomes demonstrating the impact of the work across their communities.

Cuyahoga County shared encouraging family engagement and child welfare outcome data since launching the program:

• 11 families served

• 5 families successfully closed

• Families who completed the program spent an average of 217 days engaged with Safe Babies support

• 72.72% of families actively engaged in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) services

• 7 out of 11 families had their child welfare cases close after Safe Babies involvement began

Lucas County highlighted the continued success of its Active Community Team (ACT) model and collaborative systems work. ACT survey responses showed:

• 95.5% reported stronger collaboration across agencies

• 95.5% reported improved understanding of community resources

• 95.5% felt ACT positively impacted support for families

• 95.2% reported meaningful networking opportunities

• 81.8% agreed ACT meetings provided valuable information and resources

• 33.3% reported new partnerships or projects formed through the collaboration

Lucas County also shared outcomes from their FASD 101 training designed to increase awareness of brain-based approaches and support strategies for families. Following the training, 96.5% of participants reported an increased understanding of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

Scioto County shared continued growth in family participation and referral pathways through expanded community partnerships. Current referral sources now include:

• Help Me Grow

• Early Intervention

• CAO Early Head Start/Healthy Start Program

• Children Services

The site is currently serving four families, with one additional referral pending paperwork completion.

The retreat also formally introduced Franklin County as Ohio’s newest emerging Safe Babies site and welcomed the county’s new coordinator as they begin implementation planning and partnership development.

Following site updates, attendees participated in small-group discussions focused on “Telling the Story of the Safe Babies Prevention Approach.” Groups brainstormed ways to better communicate the impact of the work to families, funders, policymakers, and community partners while identifying what stories, data, and messaging best capture both family impact and systems-level change. The activity helped prepare participants for the retreat’s deeper focus on Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI).

The afternoon featured a three-hour CQI training led by technical assistance partners from ZERO TO THREE. Participants explored how CQI principles show up in everyday life and learned practical tools for improving processes, starting small, tracking meaningful progress, and building more consistent statewide approaches.

Day two focused on Ohio’s state and site teams working directly with the CQI team and Zero to Three partners to begin applying those lessons to Safe Babies implementation across Ohio. Teams discussed shared outcomes, messaging, sustainability, and ways to better align data collection and storytelling efforts across counties while still honoring the unique needs of each local community.

By the end of the retreat, participants had drafted a shared statewide vision and mission statement, developed initial shared messaging concepts, and strengthened alignment around prevention-focused goals and systems collaboration.

While the retreat marked only the beginning of ongoing work, being together in person created meaningful space for learning, collaboration, and relationship building. Participants even ended the retreat with a collective scream exercise, a reminder that at its heart, Safe Babies is about supporting one another, working across systems, and ensuring families have the resources they need so young children can safely thrive.