Child placement ‘crisis’ affects county and state

By Michael Williamson, Richwood Gazette

Union County is experiencing a “child placement crisis,” an issue local officials said has been a growing for at least two years.

Sue Ware, director of Humans Services, said not only is it an issue in the county, it’s an issue statewide, which adds to the strain of county departments finding outside homes or foster parents when more local options aren’t available.

“In the past, we would have a significant safety issue and we would have to approach the court and ask for custody and a child would come into our care, in temporary custody. We could call our list of foster homes. So, we license our own foster homes, they’re traditional, we start there…

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