(Columbus, Oh.)--The opioid crisis is stretching Ohio's foster care system to the breaking point.
Child protective services leaders are reporting an increasing number of kids are being removed from the homes of their drug-addicted parents statewide. Those children are in need of foster care services and increasingly, mental health care because of the hardships they have faced living in those chaotic, drug-filled households.
The Public Children Services Association of Ohio says more than 15,000 Ohio children are in the foster care system today, up from about 13,700 last year. Those children are also staying longer in the Foster Care System, because addicts take additional time to kick the opioid habit and it's becoming increasingly harder to find extended family members to take them in because so many adults are addicted. One in every two children in the Ohio Foster Care System has drug-using parents.
Five Ohio counties including: Licking, Crawford, Fairfield, Lake and Vinton counties are asking voters for more money on Election Day to help with the growing crisis.