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Health and Human Services Agency, Child Welfare Services, recommending the Board proclaim the month of May 2022 as “National Foster Care Month” in the County of El Dorado.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
The National Foster Care Month campaign recognizes the important role that members from all parts of child welfare play in supporting children, youth, and families. This year’s theme, “Relative and Kin Connections: Keeping Families Strong”, speaks to the positive impact relative and kin have during the journey to permanency. Placing children and youth with kin caregivers can uniquely support reunification and can often help minimize trauma. It recognizes that families are more than experts on their own lives, they are a source of stability and comfort. However, when a child cannot safely stay with their parents, kinship care must be the first path we take.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan issued the first Presidential proclamation that established May as National Foster Care Month. In the United States, there are more than 407,000 children in foster care. In the County of El Dorado, the Child Welfare Services program serves close to 400 foster children annually. The County has celebrated National Foster Care Month since at least 2007, acknowledging and thanking those families and community service providers who make it possible to improve the lives of our local children that they support.
In 2015, the State passed Assembly Bill 403, which aligns with its federal counterpart, the Family First Prevention Services Act. These programs work toward specific goals by providing greater access to mental health services, substance use treatment, wraparound supports, and improved parenting skills in order to increase the number of children who can remain safely at home with their families. They seek to achieve this by shifting how the courts advocate and make decisions for families, and by transforming the types of placements that youth in out-of...
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