Achieve/Foster Care Project

North San Diego County has a dramatic need to improve local support services for child-abuse victims and their caregivers in the foster care system. The traditional system requires that children removed from their homes for protective issues must be transported by law enforcement staff or Child Protective Workers to a center in South San Diego County (the only one of its kind in the county) for screening, assessment, and placement.

The impact this system has on the children, their family system, as well as on the law enforcement and service delivery systems can be profoundly negative. For example, children may experience added trauma when transferred to the center during the height of traffic (San Diego County is one of the largest counties in the U.S. and the commute can take more than one hour in one direction.). Once at the center, their families must attempt to find some mode of transportation to and from the center, oftentimes resulting in families not having adequate contact with their children. According to North County Health and Human Services Agency, more than 300 North County children, aged 0-5, are sent to this center each year.

The NLRC conducted an evaluation of the service gaps and disparities in the foster care system in North San Diego County for the North County Collaboratives (a local organization that links services to clients and funding to service providers). This project aimed to enhance interagency collaboration and improve services, programs, and resource allocation within the region as they relate to the foster care system.

In December, 2001 more than 100 representatives from the local foster care system attended a training to discuss ways of improving the foster care system in North San Diego County. The NLRC assisted with the facilitation of the training and compiled the training’s proceedings in a report that has been distributed locally and nationally to those involved in foster care reform. The report can be found here. Funding for this project came from the San Diego County Children and Families Commission.

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