Our Services
Ohio START (Sobriety Treatment and Reducing Trauma) is an evidence-informed, child-welfare-led intervention model that helps public children services agencies (PCSAs) bring together caseworkers, behavioral health providers, and Family Peer Mentors into teams dedicated to helping families struggling with co-occurring child maltreatment and parental substance use disorders (SUD). The Ohio START model is an affiliate of the national Sobriety, Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) model, an evidence-informed child welfare-led initiative that has been shown, when implemented with fidelity, to improve outcomes for both parents and children affected by child maltreatment and parental substance use.
The national START model is specifically designed to transform the system of care within and between child welfare agencies and behavioral health providers, and also engages the judicial system and other family-serving agencies. The overall goal of this initiative is to stabilize families harmed by parental substance use so that both children and their parents can recover and move forward with healthy and safe lives.
Identification
Early identification of families affected by parental substance use disorders.
Access
Providing timely access to assessment and treatment services.
Peer Support
Increasing parent recovery and engagement in treatment through peer support.
Family-Centered
Focusing on family-centered services and parent-child relationships
Oversight
Increasing oversight for parents and children.
Shared Responsibility
Sharing responsibility for parent accountability and initiative outcomes across service systems.
Collaboration
Collaborating across service systems and with the courts.
Key Components
The Ohio START Model includes these key components
- Cross-system collaboration with county public children services agencies (PCSAs), behavioral health providers, courts, and other community partners, dedicated to building community capacity and making Ohio START work
- A family-centered approach that fosters integrated systems of care between PCSAs, behavioral health providers, and the courts by addressing differences in professional perspectives
- Shared decision-making among all team players, including the family
- Early family identification, engagement, and intervention upon referral to the PCSA
- Quick access to quality SUD treatment with frequent, coordinated service delivery
- A holistic assessment for all parents, addressing substance use, mental health, and trauma
- A specialized children services worker and Family Peer Mentor dyad to serve families with co-occurring substance use and child maltreatment
- Family Peer Mentors with lived experience in long-term recovery and previous child welfare involvement, rigorously screened, trained, and supervised to provide families with recovery coaching and support navigating the PCSA system
- Reduced caseloads for the START team to enable more intensive, relationship-focused intervention
- Sober parenting supports, including assistance with basic needs such as housing, transportation, child care, and in-home services
- Child-focused services to promote attachment, reduce the effects of trauma, and provide developmental supports
- Ongoing evaluation to build a learning environment and strengthen family-centered outcomes
Ohio START emphasizes a wraparound approach for at-risk parents
This initiative creates an opportunity for a new best-practice model designed to lead to better outcomes for children and families impacted by opiates and other drugs. The overall goal of this initiative is to stabilize families harmed by parental substance use so that both children and their parents can recover and move forward with abuse-free and addiction-free lives. Ohio START integrates community partners to ensure the seamless provision of wraparound services.