County Council and Executive

Five Easy Steps to protect children in Cuyahoga County

Two years ago, the County declared racism as a public health crisis. One striking example of health disparity is the prevalence of childhood lead poisoning.

Here are five things Cuyahoga County can do right now to address childhood lead poisoning, without hiring a consultant.

1. Require that moms and children enrolled in the County Women's Infants and Children (WIC) program are tested for lead exposure. Medicaid will pay the costs of the tests for moms and babies.

2. Require that all children in foster care are tested for lead exposure. Medicaid will pay the costs of testing. It's likely that children in foster care have not been receiving regular well-baby testing and may have been living in substandard housing conditions before entering foster care. MetroHealth can provide the service and Medicaid will pay.

3. Require that foster homes in rental properties in the City of Cleveland are in compliance with Cleveland's Lead Safe Certificate program. The Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition has funds to assist rental property owners come into compliance. 

4. Require that foster homes that are located outside Cleveland receive a lead risk assessment. The County can use ARPA dollars to make all the foster homes lead safe.

5. Conduct lead risk assessments in all county owned or operated facilities that serve children between the ages of 0-6 years. The cost of a lead risk assessment should be a part of on-going maintenance of these facilities built before 1978. Again, the County is expecting ARPA funds from the state to be for lead safety later this year.

Two additional concerns. 

• On March 22, 2023 the I Schumann Company in Oakwood Village blew up and spread lead dust throughout the surrounding area. There was no response from County government about this issue. This fall, CLASH will be revisiting the site and reviewing the reports of lead hazards from Ohio EPA and Federal OSHA. 

• Two new meta studies released in August 2023, have confirmed the connection between childhood lead poisoning and criminal and anti-social behavior among adolescents.  CLASH will be seeking partners to identify how childhood lead exposure has affected young adults now in the County's Juvenile Justice Center.