Scene at the DCFS meeting

This was a meeting of the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services Advisory Board (DCFS Board).

The agenda can be found here.

Scene setting: This was an in-person meeting open to the public with the option to attend online via Microsoft Teams.

Meeting start: The meeting started at 4:05 p.m. It began with introductions of board members. There were new board members attending this meeting for the first time. There were no public commenters. The minutes from the Feb. 4 meeting were accepted with no discussion or comment.

Board members

(bolded names were members who were present at the meeting):

• Gloria Blevins (executive director, Black Child Development Institute – Ohio)
• Delaney Jones (community coordinator, Safe Babies)
• Veranda Rodgers (founder, president and CEO, Pregnant with Possibilities Resource Center)
• Lakecia Wild (supervisor, Future Directions, former foster youth)
• Daniel Smith (detective with Cleveland Division of Police, U.S. Marshals Task Force, former foster youth)
• Dr. Andrew Garner, vice chair (also professor at Case Western Reserve University [CWRU])
• Verna Darby, chair
• Bianca Crawford (founder, Motivated and Empowered, Inc.)
• David Crampton (associate professor of social work, CWRU)
• M. Gabriella Celeste (director of policy, CWRU Schubert Center for Child Studies)

Other meeting participants:

• Deborah Barber (senior administrative assistant, DCFS)
• Beverly Torres (deputy administrator, DCFS)

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Director’s Report: Hiring freeze relaxed

• Torres gave the Director’s Report for DCFS, since Jacqueline Fletcher, director of DCFS, was out of the county for meetings.
• The Cuyahoga County hiring freeze was relaxed for DCFS, which will allow DCFS to fill up to 20 FrontLine social service worker vacancies. In this board’s February meeting, Fletcher called these positions “critical.”
• As of March 27, there are roughly 38 DCFS vacancies. The current average case load for short-term services staff — who do the initial investigations — is about 18.79 cases per staff member. For extended-services staff — those who work with families on an ongoing basis — the case load is 15.34 cases per staff member.
• Last year, DCFS answered 38,712 calls through the 216-696-KIDS (5437) child abuse hotline. Of those, 7,854 were screened in for investigation of abuse or neglect.
• There are currently 2,040 children in county custody, with another 1,032 children receiving services in homes in an effort to prevent removal.
• The Let’s Talk – Ask Cuyahoga podcast highlighted how DCFS benefits the community and how they connect with clients to regain trust and heal families.
• An interview with Cleveland.com highlighted the adoptions in 2025, and a deeper discussion about the kin-first initiative. 
• April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
• The 2026/2027 budget for DCFS continues to present challenges, including retaining staff, meeting mandates, and identifying support for out-of-home care funding.
• Jones asked if there was a breakdown of kinship placements. Torres said there is a breakdown on the county website. The members discussed that there is also a dashboard that shows the data. The dashboard data will be discussed at the next DCFS Advisory Board meeting. 

Onboarding new members

• The board discussed the lack of orientation for new board members (Blevins, Jones, and Rodgers). Celeste and Garner said the orientation gap may need to be discussed by the Governance Committee, which covers how the board works. There used to be an informal buddy system for new members, Celeste said. Several board members expressed their willingness to meet with new members.
• A new board member asked if there is a strategic plan for the board and what the board priorities are. Garner said there is not a strategic plan but each sub-committee has a focus. The DCFS Board by-laws also have information about the board and committee focuses, Celeste said. Right now, one of the priorities is respite care, according to Celeste and Crawford.
• Smith later said that the by-law articles three through six explain the role of the advisory board and what it can and cannot do.

Heartbreak at the loss of two children

Celeste expressed “heartbreak” at the loss of two children whose mother was charged with their murders. Celeste said in the past, the board has been given a heads up in situations where this happens to a child who has been involved in the foster system. She wondered about the process of becoming aware of these situations, adding that she understood there were prior efforts to contact DCFS about the mother and children.

Crawford said she had reached out to Fletcher to get information. Crawford spoke about the need to evaluate system failures.

Torres was asked if she had information but she was not sure what could be shared so she will discuss with Fletcher before getting back with the board.

The board discussed the need for broader community measures, not just those of one agency. Crampton said he has participated in cases where children died and said that it is rare that there is an obvious systemic problem uncovered. He also said that on the flip side, drawing attention to the cases can cause panic among the staff and increase removal from home. They need to be careful how they handle discussing these cases in a public meeting, he said.

Suggested Reading

Hiring freeze relaxed, DCFS to hire critical workers

by Cleveland Documenters April 16, 2026

Governance Sub-Committee Update

• The sub-committee chair was not present today. The main work of this committee this year is to replace those who are rotating off the board at the end of the year, Garner said.

Intervention Sub-Committee Update

• Crawford spoke about this committee. The committee’s focus is on how to intervene. They have been discussing respite care. Respite care is intended to provide short-term relief for caregivers without involving the courts. There is no respite and prevention model for Cuyahoga County. 

Prevention Sub-Committee Update

• Celeste is the chair for this committee and said someone will need to take over the role of chair in the next few months.
• They are monitoring how to keep kids out of the system altogether or reduce their trauma if exposed to the system. They’ve discussed where the gaps are that can be shared with the director in an informal way and how to support crisis intervention for young people. 

Information sharing

• Celeste mentioned the Responding to the Mental Health Needs of Youth of Color by Any Means Necessary program at Schubert Center for Child Studies on April 8.
• Crawford spoke about a proposal for a family stabilization crisis center that would provide mental health support, basic needs and respite care. 
• Crawford spoke about the 5th annual Empower Me Conference for Black and brown girls on April 18 and 19 at the Cuyahoga County Parma-Snow Library.

Meeting end

The meeting adjourned at 5:01 p.m. 

Coming up

• Upcoming board meeting dates can be found on the DCFS Advisory Board website. 

These notes are by Documenter Jamie Harman. Jamie also recorded audio.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org  with “Correction Request” in the subject line.