Montgomery County is home to more than a third of the state’s youth group homes. That’s more than any other Ohio county.
An online map shows 84 of them are primarily in Dayton, Trotwood and Harrison Township. Trotwood and Harrison Township have a moratorium on the facilities as leaders grapple with what some have called an unsustainable situation.
Ohio had an estimated 247 youth group homes as of April 2025. This according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. An online map shows 84 of these facilities in Montgomery County, primarily in Dayton, Trotwood and in Harrison Township.
Local group home manager shares her story
Nurturing Dreams and Visions is in Harrison Township. It houses up to six boys ages 8-to-21. Angela Edwards, chief executive and compliance officer, runs a five phase program supporting these youth and promoting positive thinking and life skills.
"My group is highly structured, it provides a family environment for children who have been separated from their families for no fault of theirs," said Edwards.
The youth in these group homes either have parents who aren’t able to care for them, who are in incarcerated or who are deceased. They don’t have other family who can help, and in Ohio there’s a shortage of foster families.
"If everybody's caring for and supporting one another and taking care of the youth, it's a wonderful thing because obviously there's a need. But if the youth are not being supervised and properly cared for, it can be a problem."Angela Edwards, CEO of Nurturing Dreams and Visions, which operates a local group home
Edwards’ current residents have been at Nurturing Dreams and Visions for about a year.
One resident at the group home is a 14-year-old from Perry County and the second teen is from Butler County. He just celebrated his 16th birthday and says he’s learning to stand up for himself – not to follow the crowd.
"I think it's a good home for me because I'm trying to stay out of trouble, staying put, not walking away," said the 16-year-old.
In 2016, Edwards and her sons opened their first group home in Dayton. A few years later, she closed it to take care of her mother. Edwards then returned to the city and in 2024 opened Nurturing Dreams and Visions.
She was surprised by the rapid growth of group homes in Montgomery County.
"If everybody's caring for and supporting one another and taking care of the youth, it's a wonderful thing because obviously there's a need," said Edwards. "But if the youth are not being supervised and properly cared for, it can be a problem."
Moratoriums
In February 2025, Harrison Township joined the cities of Trotwood and Dayton in a moratorium blocking the creation of new facilities and stopping the expansion of those already in existence.
Currently, Harrison Township has about 17 youth group homes. According to Township Administrator Shannon Meadows, many of the children are from Franklin, Stark and Cuyahoga Counties, sometimes setting the stage for car thefts.
"We often find that when it is a person who is in a juvenile group home who has stolen the car, they've often taken that car back to the county from which they live permanently because they want to see their friends," said Meadows.
Edwards said some of her young residents have run away because they don’t like following rules and they miss their families, but she said all have voluntarily returned.
Records for Harrison Township show:
- In 2024, deputies responded to more than 1,352 calls from group homes for young people.
- In 2025, that number dropped to 539.
- As of Oct. 8, 2026, county deputies have responded to 292 calls.
Municipal leaders credit the drop to the moratorium and to efforts by the new group home liaison deputy at the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. The officer actively works with the facilities to create positive relationships between them and law enforcement departments.
Meadows said deputies spend about an hour responding to each incident originating from one of these facilities.
"The police response will be, 'so-and-so' is gone from the home. That has to then be filed as a missing person, because that is the requirement," said Meadows. "Sometimes 'so-and-so' doesn't want to go to school. Our deputies are oftentimes working as kind of additional security or in some cases the kindly placed presence to say, 'go to school.'"
She pointed out only 10 Montgomery County Sheriff deputies service the township. Thus, Meadows said the amount of time officers spend responding to incidents involving youth group homes can detract from other issues.
"We want to make sure that what we're doing is not only for the highest and best protection and development of Harrison Township. But also for the highest and best protection and development of the children who need services that are provided in group homes," Meadows said. "However, this is a drain on our capacity and makes it harder to serve everyone who's here within the township."
There’s also a financial cost. During 2024, Harrison Township paid around $74,000 in salaries for law enforcement and emergency services to these facilities.
In Trotwood, Deputy City Manager Stephanie Kellum said lower property values make their homes attractive to buy and to modify to accommodate these children. While she couldn’t give me an exact count, she said her office has gotten complaints from neighbors about unfamiliar youth "hanging-out."
"A family doesn't know if someone's loitering because they're going to try to break into the home," said Kellum. "If it's not someone who grew up in the neighborhood, they don't know who these people are or where they came from. So, yes, it does make people uneasy."
Dayton's new group home rules
Dayton has 62 youth group homes. In August, the city lifted its moratorium and initiated a new ordinance to manage these facilities.
Zoning Administrator Kirsten French said there are five major points.
- A cap of 48 youth group homes that can open in the city. "Thus, we won't have any new youth group homes until others close," French said.
- 1,000-food spacing between each one, to prevent excessive concentrations.
- Requirements for interior inspections.
- The city also now has a limit that states if a home is on the same block as a home declared as a public nuisance, then your home is not eligible to become a group home. "You got to wait for that nuisance to be abated," she said.
- Lastly, she said the city wants to see that group homes go into single-family homes, "to make sure everybody has their own private space."
Harrison Township and Trotwood have extended their moratoriums into early 2027 as they create new policies.
Meanwhile, Edwards at Nurturing Dreams and Visions said her residents are closely supervised and guided.
And the 14-year-old realizes following the house rules can help him in the long-run.
"I have to control my anger, my emotions, to get better at listening to people, following the rules," he said. "I'm about four years away from being an adult."
And he has a vision of what he wants to do as an adult.
"I want to play football, professional football," he said. "I'll make it someday."
