2021 DPSS Annual Report Online_FINAL

Annual Report 2020/2021

Children’s Services

Expanding Command Post to Investigate Emergency Child Abuse Referrals When an urgent report of suspected child abuse or neglect comes in, the specialized Command Post team springs into action to investigate.

In June, the Command Post expanded from night, weekend and holiday hours to include high- risk investigations during daytime hours in mid-county and desert communities between Cabazon and Mecca. “The expanded hours are exciting and will allow us to respond more efficiently to our emergency referrals in these underserved communities,” said Dana Young, regional manager with the Command Post. By year’s end, the Command Post is on track to become a 24-hour hour operation, with two additional

units of 10 to 12 social workers. The Command Post responders will be exclusively dedicated to investigating emergency child abuse referrals. Daily, the Command Post team investigates between 8 and 10 child abuse and neglect cases in the state’s fourth largest county. “This is a win-win situation,” added Young. “It will provide better support to children who need our help and protection and it allows our social workers to focus exclusively on cases that require our attention and tend to be more unpredictable in nature.”

Luis Rivas works the Child Abuse Hotline. Upon receiving emergency calls, he refers them to the Command Post.

Overcoming Racial Disproportionality and Disparities

Core Practice: Educate and advance racial equity within child welfare through policy, practice, training, coaching, trauma-informed response systems, and continuous quality improvement. Community: Fostering trust through engagement and open communication with all internal and external partners, including children, parents, and resource families. Communication: Racial equity involves everyone and is committed to clear and consistent messaging to bring awareness and inspire positive actions.

The first full year of the global pandemic brought far greater suffering to Black, Latino and Native American communities, and it cast a glaring spotlight on the longstanding socioeconomic impacts of racism nationally and locally. In a historic August 2020 proclamation, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed that racism is a public health crisis causing persistent discrimination in housing, education, employment, transportation, and criminal justice. The Board vowed as a county to address the issue. Children’s Services is focused on ending racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system

and healing generations of trauma caused by disproportionality. In the coming year, the RDD Committee is launching an array of internal and external initiatives to ensure that children who enter the child welfare system experience positive outcomes and permanency with equitable access to resources and opportunities. Some key initiatives: Workforce: Enhance commitment to recruiting and retaining a qualified, diverse, and culturally competent workforce that acts individually and collectively to make best decisions that result in positive outcomes for all children and families of color.

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