Host Family Bill Under Consideration By Legislature
(WHBC) – A bill in the Ohio Legislature would allow parents who find themselves in a difficult situation to temporarily place their children with a host family.
State Senator Kirk Schuring joined Canton’s Morning News to talk about Senate Bill 6.
He says some of the reasons parents could utilize the program include, if one or both parents are temporarily incapacitated by injury, in military service, receiving medical treatment or in a drug treatment program.
He says the bill would provide a safe harbor for children whose parents are experiencing those difficult situations.
He says the act of finding a host family would be done voluntarily and in lieu of foster care.
“This is a proactive approach, before something happens that would be harmful to the child, there’s a place for safe harbor with a host family.”
The Canton Republican says the nonprofit organization Safe Families for Children already has a program up and running in the Dayton area, which he says is the impetus for the bill.