COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio lawmakers on Monday approved $1 million in emergency funding to help the children at the center of a child abuse case in Vinton County.

Members of the Ohio Controlling Board had no objections to sending the money to Vinton County, where it will be used to help place the Siders children in appropriate foster care. But lawmakers are also eager to answer a lingering question in the case: What went wrong and how does Ohio prevent this from ever happening again?

The board approved the funding to help care for the children, but spend much of the hearing asking about how the abuse of those children went undetected for so long.

Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) likened Ohio’s child protection system to a crumbling house, saying there’s plenty of blame to go around.

16 children rescued from rural Ohio home: A timeline of where the family lived
“I just don’t know how anybody could say that this going on for as long as it did that our systems are working as needed,” she said. “I think we’re all culpable for allowing this to happen for so long and it’s all of our jobs to make sure it never happens again.”

Sweeney pointed out that the state chose not to fund child protective services at the levels requested by the Department of Children and Youth in last year’s operating budget.

Joel Potts, representing that department at the hearing, said that’s partially correct.

“There were additional resources that went to child protective services, not to the extent that were originally requested,” he said. “So it wasn’t a cut. There’s still more dollars going into it this year than there were last year.”

Pre. Mike Dovilla (R-Berea) pressed Potts on the funding issues, saying he would use his position as Vice Chair of the House Finance Committee to see what can be done during the next budget cycle.

“What else needs to be done on the CPS side of things, statewide, to strengthen that statute?” Dovilla said. “I just want to offer. To take a serious look at that, whether it’s through the operating budget or through freestanding legislation to make sure that we really get our arms around this.”

Potts said he believes as more details about the Vinton County case are revealed, it will be easier to pinpoint structural failures in Ohio’s child protective system — some of which may not be strictly financial.

“Money is a problem, but it’s not necessarily the problem,” Potts said. “We need to be able to say what is the expectation and are we structured to meet that expectation?”

After the hearing, Potts said he expects there will be additional hearings and reviews of the gaps in Ohio’s child protection systems, adding that everything is on the table.