First 5 works with Sacramento County child welfare department to prevent abuse and neglect of children
If a child turns up at school almost every day with no coat in the dead of winter, dressed in ragged, dirty clothes, who do you call? Will the parents get in trouble? Will it mean the child becomes a statistic?
In Sacramento County, the answers rests with a unique collaboration of government child services and non-profit programs—like First 5 Sacramento—that throw their efforts into preventing neglect and abuse and explore ways to keep families out of the system and make them successful.
“We are changing the system for kids,” says Julie Gallelo, executive director of First 5 Sacramento. “In order to serve individuals better, you have to change the system.”
And they have.
“We are changing the system for kids. In order to serve individuals better, you have to change the system.”
Julie Gallelo, Executive Director of First 5 Sacramento County
“The department [Department of Child, Family and Adult Services, or DCFAS] is our biggest collaborator,” says Gallelo. “The department is really focused on prevention. That’s what they do so well.”
Every month for five years, representatives from First 5 and DCFAS, along with more than a dozen organizations, send their decision makers to the Sacramento County Prevention Cabinet where they change systems to help families become successful. The Prevention Cabinet also includes representatives from former foster families who provide a crucial voice and are paid a stipend for sharing their valuable input.
Working together, understanding what’s available, the cabinet is turning the tide from enforcement to prevention through community support, and keeping children out of foster care.
“We want policy people to sit at the table and make change,” Gallelo says. “Now we know who to call,” she says. Maybe they need government food aid or a parenting class or if a parent is on probation, special handling is essential. “We need to work together,” she says.
The Prevention Cabinet and other collaborative efforts by the DCFAS have reduced the number of children in foster care in the last decade by 57 percent, according to the department.
The vast majority of children become foster children because of neglect, poverty-related factors, or lack of training, which can often be corrected through intervention. Very few cases involve dangerous criminal abuse.
When statistics showed that sleep-related deaths were affecting more African American infants, First 5 supported a program that educates parents, even providing free cribs for those who can’t afford one. Parents learn that infants should sleep alone, on their back, and without blankets or pillows. Community representatives can do home visits for training so the whole family learns how to safely sleep a baby.
It’s working. Sleep related deaths among African American infants dropped by 56 percent in the last few years, Gallelo says.
Working toward a safe, stable and nurturing environment continues to be First 5’s goal for Sacramento County’s children and their parents. Often, that means just a little help from the right people: “Nobody is going to be the best parent when they are so stressed about working those three jobs and getting food on the table,” Gallelo says. “Working collaboratively with DCFAS and other partners is one way we can achieve this goal.”
For more information about First 5 Sacramento County, go to https://first5sacramento.saccounty.gov/Pages/default.aspx. To learn more about the Sacramento County Department of Child, Family and Adult Services visit https://dcfas.saccounty.gov.
