For situations involving child abuse, it’s too often said, “If only someone had caught the signs of trouble early on, before the problem developed.”
But with the help of the state First 5 program, the Santa Barbara County Child Welfare Services’ Front Porch program has been putting forward a set of responses for preventing child abuse at the first sign of trouble. As a result, the county is getting access to more resources to broaden responses to possible cases of child endangerment.
Recently released data shows that since its inception in 2003, the Front Porch program has proven successful in providing families with the tools to safely care for children at risk. According to the data, 98 percent of families referred to the program by Child Welfare Services do not come back to the attention of the agency.
“That’s a huge thing,” said Santa Barbara County Child Welfare Services Division Chief Cindy Nott. “You really want to make sure the services you’re providing are effective, and when you look at numbers like these, you know that they are. The reason, I believe, is that people are able to attain assistance themselves because they have been taught who to reach and how to reach them should problems arise.”
The assistance comes at a crucial time for the county’s Department of Social Services, which is facing more budget cuts in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The department currently fields hundreds of calls on its Child Abuse Hotline and other reports of possible abuse or neglect.
“The county is currently analyzing what this new budget means to us,” Nott said. “But regardless of good budget, bad budget, help like this is invaluable. [First 5] is going to be a huge contributor not just to us but the entire community.”
Pat Wheatley, executive director of First 5 Santa Barbara County agreed, telling the Sun, “This is a story that needs to be told. Especially in these hard economic times, [child abuse and neglect] becomes more of an issue, and we want people to know there are people out there who can help.
First 5 provides education, childcare, and healthcare support to children pre-natal to age 5. Voters created the government-funded program—also known as the California Children and Families Commission—when they passed Proposition 10, which added a 50-cent tax on every pack of cigarettes sold in the state.
The First 5 program currently funds a number of family resource centers throughout the county, including the Cuyama Family Resource Center, Santa Maria Healthy Start, Guadalupe Resource Center, Santa Ynez Valley People Helping People, the Family Service Agency, and Isla Vista Youth Projects.
“These centers provide an open setting for families to come in and attend parenting classes, commodity assistance, helping connect families with financial assistance, and case management,” Wheatley said. “They work uniquely with families and their individual strengths to keep a strong, safe family environment for children.”
Nott added that anyone with a concern for a child’s wellbeing should call the Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-367-0166 to leave an anonymous tip.
This article appears in Oct 21-28, 2010.