MCBDD Receives Grant to Help Youth with Complex Behavioral Health Needs
The Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities (MCBDD) is proud to announce it has received the Keeping Families Together Grant from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD).
The Keeping Families Together Grant is part of an Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) initiative to provide subsidy funding for agencies to improve services and supports specifically for youth with developmental disabilities with complex behavioral health needs. The goal of the initiative is to identify and help youth with disabilities who are at risk of not being able to stay in their family home because of the high level of their needs and a lack of local resources.
The Keeping Families Together Grant is aimed at children with developmental disabilities who are typically receiving services from several different agencies; also known as multi-system youth. Multi-system youth require services from more than one child-serving agency, such as children services, developmental disabilities, mental health and addiction, and juvenile justice. Some youth may have such complex physical, emotional, and behavioral needs that each agency alone cannot meet their needs. According to the Ohio Department of DD, many of these youth have a history that includes significant trauma and are at the greatest risk of not being able to remain in their homes, entering juvenile justice or child welfare, and being retraumatized.
The need for resources and services for multi-system youth with developmental disabilities have been increasing throughout the state. The Keeping Families Together Grant is just one way the DODD has made a commitment to addressing the availability of resources and services which benefit children with disabilities and their families.
The MCBDD has been awarded a two-year grant totaling $25,000. The funding will allow the MCBDD to support and develop resources in Medina County such as after school and day care services for youth with dual diagnoses, increase local respite options for youth with disabilities and families in crisis, create training opportunities for caregivers to increase their skills for working with multi-system youth, and identify and meet a child’s household needs to help them stay in their family home.
“This grant provides us with critical funding to begin the process of developing and supporting much needed resources in Medina County. Resources that can have a meaningful impact on the daily lives of the young people with developmental disabilities we help and their families,” says MCBDD Superintendent Stacey Malackar. “We are grateful to be selected to receive this grant and look forward to being able to use these funds to help families stay together in our community.”