OUR WORK
Safe Babies Ohio
4,630 of Ohio’s young children, ages 0-5, were in Public Children Service Agency (PCSA) custody (2024)
Ohio’s Safe Babies approach intends to transform the experience of infants, toddlers, and their families involved in the child welfare system so they can be safe, loved, and thrive. The Safe Babies Ohio approach empowers communities to be non-adversarial, racially and culturally equitable, and collaborative as they address the challenges that interfere with the health and well-being of children and families.
MISSION
The Ohio Infant-Toddler Court Team Expansion Project intends to transform the experience of infants and toddlers and their families involved in the court system so that they can be safe, loved and thrive, and to enable communities to be non-adversarial, racially, and culturally equitable, and collaborative as they address the problems that interfere with the health and well-being of children and families.
VISION
We will create a future where all families have the capacities, resources, and supports to care for and nurture their children.
Under a five-year federal HRSA grant, Groundwork Ohio is an essential partner of the Statewide Implementation Team, alongside the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio (ESCNEO), Children's Defense Fund-Ohio (CDF-Ohio), and Case Western Reserve University. This implementation team has joined together in a unique partnership to expand the Safe Babies approach in Ohio through infant-toddler court teams in Cuyahoga, Scioto, and Lucas counties.
Local and statewide partners, along with national leadership from ZERO TO THREE, are working collaboratively to transform the child welfare system for infants and toddlers ages 0-3 and their families to ensure a strong start in life and support better developmental outcomes. This approach takes a punitive system and transforms it into one that is holistic and trauma-informed, placing the child, family, and local community at the center.