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DeWine tries to transcend politics with foster care

Mike DeWine is using the AG’s office as a bully pulpit to make sure that Ohio does all it can to protect the nearly 12,000 children in foster care.

HANDOUT Mike DeWine is using the AG’s office as a bully pulpit to make sure that Ohio does all it can to protect the nearly 12,000 children in foster care.

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By William Hershey, Staff Writer Updated 7:46 PM Saturday, December 17, 2011

COLUMBUS — In Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office, there’s a 1997 photo of DeWine holding his daughter Anna, who was 5 at the time, at a White House bill-signing ceremony with President Bill Clinton.

The bill, sponsored by DeWine, then a U.S. senator, made clear that the best interests of a child must be No. 1 when deciding whether to leave a child in foster care or reunite a family.

It’s the kind of photo that fuels the fires of the Cedarville Republican’s critics.

They maintain that DeWine always has been too willing to work with Democrats such as Clinton.

To turn that 1997 bill into a law, DeWine even joined forces with the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, not just a Democrat, but the liberals’ liberal.

For DeWine the photo is testimony to what can be accomplished working together on issues that should transcend politics. Protecting children in foster care is a prime example.

“This is not a partisan issue,” DeWine said. “This is about kids and giving kids who’ve had a tough time, giving them some opportunity.”

Anna is 19 now, in college, but her dad is still at it.

He’s using the AG’s office as a bully pulpit to make sure that Ohio does all it can to protect the nearly 12,000 children in foster care.

DeWine has called for a broad review of the foster care system and kicked off the effort with a summit earlier this month in Cincinnati.

He plans similar summits around the state, including in the Dayton area, about every six weeks with representatives from foster care agencies, law enforcement, prosecutors, advocacy groups and anybody else who’s interested.

The impetus for the campaign was 2-year-old DeMarcus Jackson of Cincinnati. Jackson’s father is charged with murder by beating the youngster to death after he was returned to his birth parents from foster care.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters investigated and determined that county Job and Family Services workers followed the law in returning the boy. Even though the child’s health and safety is paramount, the law also calls for reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families.

“There was nothing in the detailed notes and progress reports that could have predicted such violent behavior by the father,” Deters said in a prepared statement.

DeWine didn’t dispute Deters’ conclusion and said that his effort isn’t aimed at blaming anyone, especially child welfare workers who DeWine said are overworked and underpaid.

In addition to concerns about children’s safety, DeWine worries that efforts to reunite families can keep a foster child from being adopted. The percentage of children aging out in foster care in Ohio by turning 18 is above the national average, he said.

“I don’t pretend to have all the answers,” DeWine said.

To help find them, DeWine hired someone with first-hand experience, attorney Melinda Sykes, as director of children’s initiatives. Sykes was removed from an abusive home at 13, placed in foster care and adopted by her foster mother when she was nearly 18.

Sykes said that there is more emphasis now than before 1997 on making the safety of the foster child a top priority. Still, situations vary, by county and social worker, she added.

“I think it’s always timely to shine the light on foster children and abuse and neglect issues,” Sykes said.

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