Young person in foster care no longer living in Madera County office. State agency pledges help
California officials say they are working with Madera County and other counties to identify appropriate placements for youth with high needs after revelations that the county has housed a minor with severe mental health issues in an office building for months.
Meanwhile, a Madera County worker, who spoke with The Bee and asked for anonymity due to fears of retaliation, on Wednesday said the minor was recently placed. The youth was placed just before or soon after the publication of a Fresno Bee story, the worker said.
The Bee, which first reached out to Madera County officials for comment last week, on Tuesday reported the foster youth under the county’s custody had been housed for about two to three months in a visitation room in the Child Welfare Services building, where social workers report to work. The youth who might have immigrated from a country in South America, and doesn’t speak English, was supervised at all times by staff and security, according to interviews and an internal email obtained by The Bee.
The minor’s living conditions were described as the youth being in prison.
“They seemed prepared,” the Madera County worker told The Bee of Madera County officials placing the child in anticipation of the news article.
Madera County officials didn’t respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Scott Murray, a spokesman for the California Department of Social Services, said Tuesday night after The Bee’s story had been published that officials cannot provide nor confirm information about an individual youth to “protect the privacy and confidentiality of foster youth.”
The state’s Department of Social Services, he said, continues to work with counties to help bring additional placement capacity for youth with complex needs.
“The recently enacted State Budget included a number of significant investments — many of which were needs identified by counties — in child welfare and behavioral health,” he said.
For example, Murray said, $139.2 million were included in the budget specifically to help counties serving youth with complex needs.
“CDSS also continues to provide direct technical assistance and a variety of additional supports to counties to help counties identify appropriate placements for youth as quickly as possible,” he said. “This often includes multi-agency coordination and child-specific technical assistance in identifying potential options for appropriate placements, addressing barriers to acceptance, and supporting placement preservation for youth with complex needs.”
Madera Police Department records show that officers, on occasion, have been called to the Child Welfare Services’ office building to respond to juveniles being “out of control” and for youth running away.
Madera County is not the only county in California to house foster children in a Child Welfare Services’ office building.
In October, The Bee reported that children under the custody of Fresno County were living in an office building and would sleep on top of conference room tables, desks pulled together, and on mats on the floor in office rooms where the lights were always on.
Fresno police officers also responded to the Child Welfare Services’ office building there for multiple reports of juveniles running away.
Fresno County plans
Fresno County officials, just like Madera County officials, cited a shortage of placement options for foster children with high needs after The Bee reported on children’s living conditions there.
Tricia Gonzalez, deputy director of child welfare at the Fresno County Department of Social Services, said the county has received $1.1 million from the $139.2 million the state allocated to help counties caring for youth who have a higher level of needs.
Fresno County, she said, is developing a plan for how that funding will be spent. But one fact is already known: it won’t be enough.
“Based on the various unmet needs we are experiencing with the shortage of adequate placements, this funding is helpful; however, we do not anticipate it will go far enough to meet the needs of our youth,” she said.
The placement needs of youth in Fresno County continue to vary from day to day, Gonzalez said, but as on Wednesday, the county didn’t have any youth without a placement.
Under California law, it’s illegal for counties to house minors in unlicensed facilities, and the counties can be subject to civil penalties for doing so.
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 4:33 PM.
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