Lucas County Children Services is moving ahead with changes drawn from an eight-item list produced by the Lucas County Child Protection Task Force, according to WTVG.
Shelby Culley, who served on the task force, now works on the agency's implementation team. She is LCCS's director of disproportionality reduction, training and quality assurance. Culley said having task force participants involved in carrying out the recommendations helps clarify their intent.
Executive Director Randy Muth told the station that the agency had already expected the need for changes and was eager to begin. He said three of the eight items fall to another agency because they concern the broader child welfare system: a prevention network resource guide, a non-CPS entity for child abuse prevention and support, and restoration of a Lucas County ombudsman role.
LCCS will lead the remaining five, which cover community spaces for family visitation, workforce training on equity and reform practices, hiring people with lived experience, recruiting diverse kinship and foster caregivers, and better coordination to improve stability for foster youth.
Muth said 40 strategies support the goals. A committee drawn from the LCCS board will review the recommendations and decide which best serve the community, issuing progress reports along the way. No timeline is fixed; some items could take up to a year. The first update is expected by Dec. 1, 2026.