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Opiate Epidemic

The opiate epidemic has reached every corner of Ohio. State leaders have responded by expanding Medicaid, which makes treatment options available to more people struggling with addiction, as well as by limiting prescriptions and piloting evidence-based practices such as the Maternal Opiate Medical Support (MOMS) program.

Opiate Epidemic

Children of parents addicted to opiates began flooding into the state’s child protection system in 2013. They are the invisible victims of the epidemic. A 2015 survey by PCSAO found that half of children taken into custody that year had parental drug use identified at the time of removal, and 28 percent of children removed that year had parents who used opioids, including prescription opiates, heroin and fentanyl. That means nearly a third of children in custody were there because of the epidemic, and that number doesn’t count many children who continued to be served in their homes or placed with kin.

The impact on the system has been devastating:

In response, PCSAO launched Ohio START.

PCSAO Resources

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